TW202039026A - Delivery of radiation by column and generating a treatment plan therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

An example method of treating a target using particle beam includes directing the particle beam along a path at least part-way through the target, and controlling an energy of the particle beam while the particle beam is directed along the path so that the particle beam treats at least interior portions of the target that are located along the path. While the particle beam is directed along the path, the particle beam delivers a dose of radiation to the target that exceeds one (1) Gray-per-second for a duration of less than five (5) seconds. A treatment plan may be generated to perform the method.

Description

Radiation delivery by tube string and treatment plan generated from it

The present invention generally relates to a particle therapy system that delivers radiation doses through a tube and relates to a treatment plan generated therefrom.

Particle therapy systems use accelerators to generate particle beams for treating diseases such as tumors. In operation, particles are accelerated in orbits inside the cavity in the presence of a magnetic field, and are removed from the cavity through the extraction channel. The magnetic field regenerator generates magnetic field bumps near the exterior of the cavity to distort the pitch and angle of some tracks, so that they move toward the extraction channel and finally into the extraction channel. The beam of particles leaves the extraction channel.

The scanning system is in the down-beam direction of the extraction channel. In this example, it indicates that it is closer to the irradiation target relative to the extraction channel in the forward beam direction. The scanning system moves the particle beam relative to the irradiation target so that various parts of the irradiation target are exposed to the particle beam. For example, to treat tumors, a particle beam can be scanned on different parts of the tumor to expose different parts to radiation.

The particle therapy system usually operates according to the treatment plan. The treatment plan may specify the radiation dose to be delivered to the patient by the particle therapy system plus others.

An example method of using a particle beam to treat a target includes: directing a particle beam along a path that at least partially passes through the target; and controlling the energy of the particle beam when the particle beam is guided along the path so that the particle beam is at least Treat the internal part of the target located along the path. When the particle beam is guided along the path, the particle beam will deliver a radiation dose exceeding one (1) Gorey per second to the target for a duration of less than five (5) seconds. This example method may include one or more of the following features alone or in combination.

Guidance and control can be performed for each of the multiple microvolumes of the target. Controlling the energy of the particle beam may include moving one or more energy absorbing plates into or out of the path of the particle beam between the target and the particle beam source. When the particle beam is guided along the path, one or more energy absorbing plates can be moved into or out of the path of the particle beam. Moving the one or more energy absorbing plates into or out of the path of the particle beam may include sequentially moving the multiple energy absorbing plates into the path of the particle beam. Moving one or more energy absorbing plates into or out of the path of the particle beam may include sequentially moving the multiple energy absorbing plates out of the path of the particle beam. The energy absorbing plate among the one or more energy absorbing plates may include a linear motor that can be controlled to move the energy absorbing plate into or out of the path of the particle beam. Each of the one or more energy absorbing plates may be capable of moving in or out of the path of the particle beam within a duration of one hundred (100) milliseconds or less. Each of the one or more energy absorbing plates may be movable in or out of the path of the particle beam within a duration of fifty (50) milliseconds or less. Each of the one or more energy absorbing plates may be capable of moving in or out of the path of the particle beam within a duration of ten (10) milliseconds or less. Moving the one or more energy absorbing plates into or out of the path of the particle beam may include controlling a first plate of the one or more energy absorbing plates to move while the particle beam passes through the one or more energy absorbing plates to the target. The first plate can be configured and controllable to move across at least part of the beam field. The beam field may correspond to a plane that defines the maximum range in which the particle beam can move relative to the target.

The particle beam can be generated by a particle accelerator configured to output a particle beam, which is based on a current passing through a superconducting winding contained in the particle accelerator. Controlling the energy of the particle beam may include setting the current to one of multiple values. Each of the multiple values may correspond to a different energy output of the particle beam from the particle accelerator. When the particle beam is guided along the path, the particle beam can deliver a radiation dose exceeding twenty (20) Grays per second to the target for a duration of less than five seconds. When the particle beam is guided along the path, the particle beam can deliver a radiation dose between twenty (20) grays per second and one hundred (100) grays per second to the target in less than five seconds duration. When the particle beam is guided along the path, the particle beam can deliver radiation doses between forty (40) grays per second and one hundred twenty (120) grays per second to the target. The dose of 40 to 120 Grays per second can be less than five seconds. When the particle beam is guided along the path, the particle beam can deliver a radiation dose exceeding one or more of the following doses to the target for a duration of less than 500 ms, for a duration between 10 ms and 5 s Duration or duration of less than 5 s: 100 grays per second, 200 grays per second, 300 grays per second, 400 grays per second or 500 grays per second. The particle beam may be a Gaussian pencil beam having a size of at least two (2) millimeters σ. The particle beam may be a Gaussian pencil beam having a size between two (2) millimeters σ and twenty (20) millimeters σ.

The path may be a first path and the method may include guiding the particle beam along a second path that is different from the first path at least partially through the target. The method may include controlling the energy of the particle beam when the particle beam is guided along the second path, so that the particle beam treats the portion of the target positioned along the second path. For example, the first path and the second path may be pipe strings that extend completely or partially through the target. When the particle beam is guided along the second path, the particle beam can deliver a radiation dose exceeding one (1) Goray per second to the target for a duration of less than five hundred (500) milliseconds. In some instances, during treatment of the target, the particle beam may never be guided along the first path.

The method may include blocking at least part of the particle beam using a collimator, the collimator being configurable to block the first part of the particle beam while allowing the second part of the particle beam to reach the target. The collimator may include a structure made of a material that prevents the particle beam from passing through. The structures can define an edge that moves into the path of the particle beam so that the first part of the particle beam on the first side of the edge is blocked by the structures, and the particle beam on the second side of the edge is The second part is not blocked by these structures. The collimator may include linear motors that are controlled to configure the structures to define edges. Each of the linear motors may include movable components and stationary components. The stationary component may include a magnetic field generator for generating the first magnetic field. The movable component may include one or more coils for conducting current to generate a second magnetic field that interacts with the first magnetic field to move the movable component relative to the stationary component. The movable component of each linear motor can be connected to the corresponding one of the structures or can be part of it, so that the corresponding structure moves with the movement of the movable component.

An example method of using a particle beam to treat a target includes: guiding the particle beam along a first path that at least partially passes through the target; controlling the energy of the particle beam when the particle beam is guided along the first path so that the particle The beam treats the three-dimensional cylindrical portion of the target along the first path; and repeatedly directs the particle beam and controls the energy for multiple different paths that at least partially pass through the target, without guiding along the same path through the target Beam more than once. As the particle beam is guided along each path through the target, the particle beam can deliver a radiation dose exceeding one (1) Gorey per second to the target for a duration of less than five (5) seconds. This example method may include one or more of the following features alone or in combination.

Guidance and control can be performed for each of the multiple microvolumes of the target. Controlling the energy of the particle beam may include moving one or more energy absorbing plates into or out of the path of the particle beam between the target and the particle beam source. The particle beam can be generated by a particle accelerator configured to output a particle beam, which is based on a current passing through a superconducting winding contained in the particle accelerator. Controlling the energy of the particle beam may include setting the current to one of multiple values. Each of the multiple values may correspond to a different energy output of the particle beam from the particle accelerator.

An example particle therapy system includes: a particle accelerator to generate a particle beam; a scanning magnet to guide the particle beam along a path at least partially passing through the target; and a control system to control the scanning magnet to follow The particle beam is guided at least partially through the multiple paths of the target, and the energy of the particle beam is controlled so that along each of the multiple paths, the particle beam treats the three-dimensional columnar portion of the target. When the particle beam is guided along each of the multiple paths, the particle beam will deliver a radiation dose exceeding one (1) Gorey per second to the target for a duration of less than five (5) seconds. This example system may include one or more of the following features individually or in combination.

The control system can be configured to control the scanning magnet so that the particle beam is guided only once along each path through the target. The system can include an energy absorbing structure, each of which can be configured to reduce the energy of the particle beam as it passes through the energy absorbing structure to the target. The control system can be configured to control the energy of the particle beam by moving one or more of the energy absorbing structures into or out of the path of the particle beam between the target and the particle beam source. The energy absorbing structures may include energy absorbing plates. The control system can be configured to treat the micro-volume of the target by controlling the scanning magnet to guide the particle beam along multiple paths at least partially through the target, and to control the energy of the particle beam so as to follow multiple paths For each of them, the particle beam treats the three-dimensional cylindrical portion of the target.

For a path among multiple paths along which the particle beam is guided, the control system can be configured to move one or more energy absorbing structures into or out of the path of the particle beam when the particle beam is on the path. For paths among multiple paths, the control system can be configured to sequentially move multiple energy absorbing structures into the path of the particle beam. For paths among multiple paths, the control system can be configured to sequentially move multiple energy absorbing structures out of the path of the particle beam. The energy absorbing plate in the energy absorbing structure may include a linear motor, which can be controlled to move the energy absorbing plate into or out of the path of the particle beam. For paths among multiple paths, the control system can be configured to move each of one or more energy absorbing structures in or out of particles within a duration of one hundred (100) milliseconds or less Beam the path. For paths among multiple paths, the control system can be configured to move each of one or more energy absorbing structures in or out of particles within a duration of fifty (50) milliseconds or less Beam the path. For paths among multiple paths, the control system can be configured to move one or more energy absorbing structures by performing operations that include the following steps: controlling the first plate of the one or more energy absorbing structures to move the particles The beam moves while passing through one or more energy absorbing structures to the target.

The particle accelerator may include superconducting windings. The particle accelerator can be configured to generate a particle beam based on the current passing through the superconducting winding. The control system can be configured to control the energy of the particle beam by setting the current to one of multiple values. Each of the multiple values may correspond to a different energy output of the particle beam from the particle accelerator. The control system can be configured to control the particle beam to deliver radiation doses exceeding twenty (20) Grays per second to the target for a duration of less than five (5) seconds on each path. The control system can be configured to control the particle beam to deliver a radiation dose between twenty (20) grays per second and one hundred (100) grays per second to the target on each path. For a duration of five (5) seconds. The control system can be configured to control the particle beam to deliver radiation doses between forty (40) grays per second and one hundred twenty (120) grays per second to the target on each path For the specified duration.

The particle beam may be a Gaussian pencil beam having a size of at least two (2) millimeters σ. The particle beam may be a Gaussian pencil beam having a size between two (2) millimeters σ and twenty (20) millimeters σ.

The particle therapy system can include a collimator that can be configured to block the first part of the particle beam while allowing the second part of the particle beam to reach the target. The collimator may include a structure made of a material that prevents the particle beam from passing through. The structures may include an edge that moves into the path of the particle beam so that the first part of the particle beam on the first side of the edge is blocked by the structures, and the particle beam on the second side of the edge is The second part is not blocked by these structures. The collimator may include linear motors that can be controlled to configure the structures to define edges. Each of the linear motors may include movable components and stationary components. The stationary component may include a magnetic field generator for generating the first magnetic field. The movable component may include one or more coils for conducting current to generate a second magnetic field that interacts with the first magnetic field to move the movable component relative to the stationary component. The movable component of each linear motor can be connected to the corresponding one of the structures or can be part of it, so that the corresponding structure moves with the movement of the movable component.

The control system can be configured to control the intensity of the particle beam along each of the multiple paths. The intensity of the particle beam may be different along at least two of the multiple paths.

The particle therapy system may include a ridge wave filter to broaden the Bragg peak of the particle beam. The particle therapy system may include a range modulator wheel for broadening the Bragg peak of the particle beam. The range modulator wheel can be configured to move in at least two dimensions to track the movement of the particle beam. The control system can be configured to control the intensity of the particle beam when it hits the range modulator wheel.

In an example, one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media store instructions executable to implement the example treatment planning system for the particle therapy system. The treatment planning system includes a predictive model that defines the particle therapy system and the characteristics of the patient to be treated by the particle therapy system. The prediction model defines the characteristics of the particle therapy system at least in part by defining the characteristics of the timing of radiation delivered by the particle therapy system. The treatment planning system also includes: a relative bioavailability (RBE) model, which defines the characteristics of the relative bioavailability of radiation to the tissue based on the delivery timing of the radiation; and a dose calculation engine, which determines the delivery of radiation to The patient's voxel dosage regimen. The dose calculation engine is configured to determine the dose plan based on the prediction model and the RBE model. The treatment planning system may include one or more of the following features individually or in combination.

The dose schedule can specify the dose and dose rate of radiation to be delivered to the voxel. The treatment plan may include a sequencer for generating instructions for sequencing dose delivery in order to optimize the effective dose determined by the dose calculation engine.

The prediction model can define the characteristics of the particle therapy system based on the structure of the pulse of the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator. The prediction model can define the characteristics of the particle therapy system based on the maximum dose per pulse of the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator. The predictive model can define the characteristics of the particle therapy system based on the sweep time of the scanning magnet moving the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator. The prediction model can define the characteristics of the particle therapy system based on the time it takes to change the energy of the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator. The predictive model can define the characteristics of the particle therapy system based on the time it takes to move one or more energy absorbing structures to change the energy of the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator. The prediction model can define the characteristics of the particle therapy system based on the strategy used to adjust the radiation dose. The predictive model can define the characteristics of the particle therapy system based on the time it takes to move the collimator used to collimate the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator. The predictive model can define the characteristics of the particle therapy system based on the time it takes to configure the collimator for collimating the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator. The prediction model can define the characteristics of the particle therapy system based on the time it takes to control the range modulator to change the Bragg peak of the particles in the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator.

The dose calculation engine can be configured to determine when the dose specified in the dose plan is to be delivered to the voxel of the patient based on the RBE model. The dose calculation engine can be configured to determine whether a voxel among the voxels contains targeted tissue, non-targeted tissue, or both targeted tissue and non-targeted tissue, and is based at least in part on the voxel containing targeted tissue Tissue, non-targeted tissue, or both targeted tissue and non-targeted tissue determine the dose rate of radiation to voxel. Targeted tissues can include diseased tissues and non-targeted tissues can include healthy tissues. In the case where a voxel contains only non-targeted tissue, determining the dose rate of radiation to the voxel may include determining not to deliver a dose to the voxel. In the case where a voxel contains targeted tissue or both targeted tissue and non-targeted tissue, determining the dose rate of radiation to the voxel may include delivering ultra-high dose rate radiation to the voxel.

The ultra-high dose rate radiation may include a radiation dose exceeding one (1) Goray per second for a duration of less than five (5) seconds. The ultra-high dose rate radiation may include a radiation dose exceeding one (1) Gorey per second for a duration of less than 500 ms. The ultra-high dose rate radiation may include a radiation dose between 40 Gy per second and 120 Gy per second in a duration of less than 500 ms.

The dose schedule can specify the dose and dose rate of radiation to be delivered to the voxel. The doses may include equivalent doses determined based on weighting factors from the RBE model. The weighting factor can increase the dose for a duration.

The sequencer is configured to be based on one or more of the following, based on two or more of the following, based on three or more of the following, based on each of the following Sequencing of dose delivery based on four or more of four, based on five or more of the following, or based on the following owners: the structure of the pulse of the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator, the particle The maximum dose per pulse of the beam, the sweep time of the scanning magnet to move the particle beam, the time it takes to change the energy of the particle beam, the time it takes to move one or more energy absorbing structures to change the energy of the particle beam, and to adjust the dose The strategy, the time it takes to move the collimator used to collimate the particle beam, the time it takes to configure the collimator, or the time it takes to control the range modulator to change the Bragg peak of the particles in the particle beam .

For a voxel among the voxels, the sequencer can be configured to sequence the delivery of the set of doses at least partially through the tube string of the voxel. The voxel may be the microvolume of the irradiation target to be treated with the radiation tube, may be part of this microvolume or may include multiple such microvolumes. Each dose in the set can be delivered at an ultra-high dose rate. For one of the pipe columns, the energy of the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator can be changed when the particle beam is at rest. The sequence of delivery is such that after the tube is treated, the particle beam is no longer guided to treat the tube.

In an example, one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media store instructions executable to implement the example treatment planning system for the particle therapy system. The treatment planning system includes: a predictive model that defines the particle therapy system and the characteristics of the patient to be treated by the particle therapy system; and a dose calculation engine that is used to determine the dose plan of the voxel used to deliver radiation to the patient. The dose calculation engine can be configured to determine a dose plan based on the prediction model. The treatment planning system may include one or more of the aforementioned features alone or in combination. The treatment planning system may include one or more of the following features individually or in combination.

The dose schedule can specify the dose and dose rate of radiation to be delivered to the voxel. The treatment planning system may include a sequencer for generating instructions for sequencing the delivery of doses at a rate determined by the dose calculation engine.

An example method includes storing first information in a computer memory, the first information defining the characteristics of the particle therapy system and the patient to be treated by the particle therapy system. The method includes storing second information in a computer memory, the second information defining characteristics of the relative bioavailability of the radiation to the tissue. The method also includes determining, by one or more processing devices, a dosage regimen of voxels for delivering radiation to the patient. The dosage regimen can be determined based on the first information and the second information. The method may include one or more of the following features alone or in combination.

The dose schedule can specify the dose and dose rate of radiation to be delivered to the voxel. The method can include generating instructions for sequencing the delivery of doses at a rate specified in the dosage regimen.

The first information can define the characteristics of the particle therapy system based on the structure of the pulse of the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator. The first information can define the characteristics of the particle therapy system based on the maximum dose per pulse of the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator. The first information can define the characteristics of the particle therapy system based on the scanning time of the scanning magnet moving the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator. The first information may define the characteristics of the particle therapy system based on the time taken to change the energy of the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator. The first information can define the characteristics of the particle therapy system based on the time it takes to move one or more energy absorbing structures to change the energy of the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator. The first information can define the characteristics of the particle therapy system based on the strategy used to adjust the dose. The first information can define the characteristics of the particle therapy system based on the time it takes to move the collimator used to collimate the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator. The first information can define the characteristics of the particle therapy system based on the time it takes to configure the collimator for collimating the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator. The first information can define the characteristics of the particle therapy system based on the time it takes to control the range modulator to change the Bragg peak of the particles in the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator.

Determining the dosage regimen may include judging the time at which the dose specified in the dosage regimen is to be delivered to the voxel of the patient based on the second information. Determining the dosage regimen may include determining whether one of the voxels contains targeted tissue, non-targeted tissue, or both targeted tissue and non-targeted tissue, and based at least in part on the voxel containing targeted tissue, non-targeted tissue The dose rate of radiation to the voxel is determined to the tissue or both the targeted tissue and the non-targeted tissue. Targeted tissues can include diseased tissues and non-targeted tissues can include healthy tissues. In the case where a voxel contains only non-targeted tissue, determining the dose rate of radiation to the voxel may include determining not to deliver a dose to the voxel. In the case where the voxel contains targeted tissue or both targeted and non-targeted tissues, determining the dose rate of radiation to the voxel may include determining to deliver ultra-high dose rate radiation to the voxel.

The ultra-high dose rate radiation may include a radiation dose exceeding one (1) Goray per second for a duration of less than five (5) seconds. The ultra-high dose rate radiation may include a radiation dose exceeding one (1) Gorey per second for a duration of less than 500 ms. The ultra-high dose rate radiation may include a radiation dose between 40 Gy per second and 120 Gy per second in a duration of less than 500 ms.

The dose schedule can specify the dose and dose rate of radiation to be delivered to the voxel. The doses may include equivalent doses determined based on the weighting factor from the second information. The weighting factor can increase the dose for a duration.

The delivery of doses is sequenced based on one or more of the following, two or more of the following, three or more of the following, and one of the following Four or more than four, five of the following or more than five or less owner: the structure of the pulse of the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator, the maximum dose per pulse of the particle beam, the scanning magnet moving the particle beam The sweep time, the time it takes to change the energy of the particle beam, the time it takes to move one or more energy absorbing structures to change the energy of the particle beam, the strategy for adjusting the dose, and the movement to collimate the particle beam. The time it takes for the collimator, the time it takes to configure the collimator, or the time it takes to control the range modulator to change the Bragg peak of the particles in the particle beam.

For a voxel among the voxels, sequencing the delivery of doses may include sequencing the delivery of a collection of doses that pass at least partially through the tubing of the voxel. Each dose in the set can be delivered at an ultra-high dose rate. For one of the pipe columns, the energy of the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator can be changed when the particle beam is at rest. The sequence of delivery is such that after the tube is treated, the particle beam is no longer guided to treat the tube.

An example method includes: storing first information in a computer memory, the first information defining the characteristics of the particle therapy system and the patient to be treated by the particle therapy system; and determining by one or more processing devices to deliver radiation The dosage regimen of voxels to patients. The dosage regimen can be determined based on the first information. The method may include one or more of the following features alone or in combination.

The dose schedule can specify the dose and dose rate of radiation to be delivered to the voxel. The method can include generating instructions for sequencing the delivery of doses at a rate specified in the dosage regimen.

An example system includes: a particle accelerator, which is used to generate radiation for delivery to the patient; a scanning system, which is used to control the delivery of radiation to the patient; and a treatment planning system, which is used to generate a treatment plan that specifies how the radiation The voxel delivered to the patient; and a control system for controlling the particle accelerator and the scanning system according to the treatment plan to deliver radiation to the voxel of the patient.

The treatment planning system can be programmed to generate a treatment plan by executing the following operations: storing first information in the computer memory, the first information defining the particle therapy system and the characteristics of the patient to be treated by the particle therapy system; Storing the second information in the computer memory, the second information defining the characteristics of the relative biological effectiveness of the radiation to the tissue; and determining the dose plan of the voxel for delivering the radiation to the patient by one or more processing devices, The dosage plan is determined based on the first information and the second information.

The treatment planning system can be programmed to generate a treatment plan by executing the following operations: storing first information in the computer memory, the first information defining the particle therapy system and the characteristics of the patient to be treated by the particle therapy system; And the one or more processing devices determine the dose plan of the voxel for delivering radiation to the patient, wherein the dose plan is determined based on the first information.

The treatment planning system may include a predictive model that defines the particle therapy system and the characteristics of the patient to be treated by the particle therapy system. The prediction model defines the characteristics of the particle therapy system at least in part by defining the characteristics of the timing of radiation delivered by the particle therapy system. The treatment planning system also includes: a relative bioavailability (RBE) model, which defines the characteristics of the relative bioavailability of radiation to the tissue based on the delivery timing of the radiation; and a dose calculation engine, which determines the delivery of radiation to The patient's voxel dosage regimen. The dose calculation engine is configured to determine the dose plan based on the prediction model and the RBE model.

The treatment plan may also include a sequencer for generating instructions for sequencing dose delivery in order to optimize the effective dose determined by the dose calculation engine.

The treatment planning system may include: a predictive model that defines the particle therapy system and the characteristics of the patient to be treated by the particle therapy system; and a dose calculation engine that determines the dose plan of the voxel used to deliver radiation to the patient. The dose calculation engine can be configured to determine a dose plan based on the prediction model.

The treatment plan may also include a sequencer for generating instructions for sequencing dose delivery in order to optimize the effective dose determined by the dose calculation engine.

The treatment planning system may include a first computing system, the control system may include a second computing system, and the first computing system may be different from the second computing system. The treatment planning system and the control system can be implemented on the same computing system. This example system may include any of the features described herein, including but not limited to those described in the Summary of the Invention section above.

Two or more of the features described in the present invention (including those described in this Summary of the Invention section) can be combined to form an implementation not specifically described herein.

The control of the various systems or parts thereof described herein can be implemented by a computer program product, which includes storage on one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media and can be executed on one or more processing devices (such as , Microprocessors, special application integrated circuits, programmed logic such as field programmable gate arrays or the like). The system described herein or a part thereof can be implemented as a device, method, or electronic system. The device, method, or electronic system can include one or more processing devices and computer memory to store executable instructions to implement the stated functions control.

The details of one or more implementations are set forth in the accompanying drawings and descriptions below. Other features, goals and advantages will be apparent from the description and drawings and the scope of patent application.

Cross reference to related applications

This application claims the priority and rights of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/815,721 filed on March 8, 2019 and named "Delivery Of Radiation By Column". This application claims the priority and rights of US Provisional Patent Application No. 62/853,387 filed on May 28, 2019 and named "Energy Degrader Including Boron Carbide". This application claims the priority and rights of US Provisional Patent Application No. 62/889,825 filed on August 21, 2019 and named "Generating A Treatment Plan". This application claims the priority and rights of US Provisional Patent Application No. 62/889,861 filed on August 21, 2019 and named "Collimator For A Particle Therapy System". The contents of US Provisional Patent Application Nos. 62/815,721, 62/853,387, 62/889,825, and 62/889,861 are incorporated herein by reference.

An example embodiment of a treatment planning system for a particle therapy system is described herein. The example treatment plan specifies the dosage regimen used to treat patients with radiation. The dosage regimen can include the dose to be delivered, the rate at which the dose is to be delivered (referred to as the "dose rate"), or both dose and dose rate. The dose in the dosage regimen can simply include the amount of radiation deposited during the treatment. The dose in the dosage regimen may include a bioequivalent dose, which is also referred to as an "equivalent dose". The bioequivalent dose may include the amount of radiation output required to treat the diseased tissue in the patient taking into account the biological effects of the tissue in the patient on the deposited radiation. In some embodiments, the treatment planning system can be used to generate instructions to apply the radiation dose rate to a three-dimensional treatment volume called a voxel in the patient. All or part of the treatment planning system can be implemented by executing one or more computer programs on one or more processing devices, and the one or more computer programs are stored on one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media And retrieved from the one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media.

The example treatment planning system and its variations described herein can be used to generate instructions to apply ultra-high dose rates of radiation (so-called "FLASH" radiation dose rates) to irradiation targets. In this regard, experimental results in radiation therapy have shown that the condition of healthy tissues exposed to radiation is improved when the therapeutic dose is delivered at an ultra-high (FLASH) dose rate. In an example, when the radiation dose is delivered within a pulse of less than 500 milliseconds (ms) at 10 to 20 grays (Gy) to achieve an effective dose rate of 20 to 100 grays per second (Gy/S), compared When irradiated with the same dose on a longer time scale, healthy tissues suffer less damage, and the effect of treating tumors is similar. The theory that can explain this "FLASH effect" is based on the fact that the damage to tissues caused by radiation is proportional to the oxygen supply in the tissues. In healthy tissues, compared to the dose application that radicalizes oxygen multiple times over a longer time scale, the ultra-high dose rate radicalizes oxygen only once. This can result in less damage to healthy tissues when using ultra-high dose rates.

In the example, the treatment planning system includes: a predictive accelerator-dependent timing model, which is called a "predictive model"; a time-dependent relative bioavailability (RBE) model; a dose calculation engine, which can be used for example Dose (FLASH) rate is the time-dependent RBE effect when the radiation is delivered; and a sequencer or optimizer, which sequence the particle beam delivery to produce the best ultra-high dose rate (or other) dose plan. In this example, the treatment planning system is implemented at least in part using software and is configured, for example, written or programmed, to deliver any dose to any of the irradiation targets for the proposed beam delivery decision. The time to determine the volume.

The predictive model defines or models the components of the particle therapy system that delivers radiation to the patient. For example, the predictive model can define the characteristics of the components of the particle therapy system, including the system's ability to deliver a series of spots or strings of radiation within the time required to provide ultra-high radiation doses. The predictive model can also define the characteristics of the patient and the treatment target such as the tumor in the patient or model the patient and the treatment target. The predictive model can be implemented using each of the following: one or more computer programming objects; data structures, such as one or more look-up tables (LUT), arrays, lists, or binary trees; or any suitable software model.

The RBE model defines the characteristics of the relative biological effectiveness of radiation to tissues in a time-dependent manner. In other words, the RBE model defines the characteristics of the relative bioavailability of radiation to the tissue based on the timing of the delivery of radiation to the tissue. For example, when radiation is applied at an ultra-high (FLASH) dose rate, compared to when healthy tissue is irradiated with the same dose on a longer time scale, the same tissue can withstand less damage and the effect of treating tumors is similar. . In other words, for tumors or other diseased tissues, compared to the dose rate, the key factor in the treatment is the total radiation dose, while for healthy tissues, the dose rate is a factor that reduces damage to undesired damage. The RBE model can include information about different types of healthy and diseased tissues and the effects of different radiation dose rates on their different types of tissues. The RBE model can include information about how different types of healthy and diseased tissue affect the delivery and absorption of radiation. The RBE model can also include the effects of different types of radiation on different types of tissues at different dose rates. The RBE model can be implemented using each of the following: one or more computer programming objects; data structures such as one or more look-up tables (LUT), arrays, lists, or binary trees; or any suitable software model.

The dose calculation engine determines the dose schedule for the patient. For example, the dose calculation engine can determine the radiation doses of the voxels to be delivered to the patient and the rate at which those doses are delivered. The dose calculation engine uses information from the prediction model and the RBE model when performing its calculations. In this regard, the dose calculation engine is configured, for example, programmed or programmed, to determine dose and dose rate based at least in part on the time-dependent RBE of radiation to tissues in the patient. Therefore, the dose calculation engine can identify whether the tissue in the patient is healthy or diseased. The RBE model and prediction model are used to calculate the duration of one or more radiation doses to be delivered to the tissue during the calculation based on the system constraints and based on the required treatment. Type and adjust the dose proportionally to the target tissue. For example, the dose calculation engine can be configured to identify targets such as malignant neoplasms in the patient and to identify healthy tissues in the patient. The dose calculation engine can then determine the RBE of the radiation to that tissue based on the RBE model. Given the constraints of the system for delivering the dose and any relevant patient information, the dose calculation engine can then determine the radiation dose to be delivered to the target and the rate of dose delivery based on the predictive model. When possible, the dose calculation engine avoids delivering radiation to healthy tissues, while maintaining an appropriate dose of the voxel constituting the target, such as an ultra-high dose rate. In terms of the extent to which radiation affects healthy tissues, compared to the situation in traditional applications that use lower dose rates, delivering the radiation at an ultra-high (FLASH) dose rate can make it less harmful to healthy tissues.

Using a combination of predictive models, RBE models, and dose calculation engines that all consider time series in one way or another, the treatment planning system can generate a time-dependent treatment plan with an appropriate dose plan and the user can evaluate its quality. The forward planning method can be used to manually establish or modify the beam delivery sequence to generate a sequential treatment plan that utilizes the FLASH effect. For example, the user can manually configure the radiation delivery to a column with constant beam steering or choose a beam angle or collimation that reduces the degree of overlap between different radiation columns.

The sequencer or optimizer can be configured, for example, written or programmed, to generate instructions, such as computer-executable instructions, for sequencing the delivery of the rate at the rate determined by the dose calculation engine. The treatment planning system may use a sequencer or an optimizer to automatically perform sequence optimization by using a reverse planning method to sequence treatments. In an example, the sequencer uses the sequence delivered by the beam or spot as an additional degree of freedom, and uses optimization techniques to determine the sequence that best achieves the input criteria specified by the user while taking into account time-dependent effects.

As stated, the sequencer can use reverse planning to determine the sequence of doses of radiation to be delivered. In some embodiments, the reverse plan includes obtaining the target dose distribution of the radiation, and then performing procedures such as optimization procedures to determine how to deliver that radiation to achieve the time constraints required to achieve the ultra-high (FLASH) dose rate The goal of the treatment plan, such as destroying malignant tissue. In an example, given the characteristics in the predictive model and the target dose, the sequencer can determine the voxel to be applied to the patient in a tube with radiation. The sequencer can determine the radius and length of their pipe strings and the order of each pipe string to be delivered, where they should be located in the target. In the case where the ultra-high dose rate is not used, the sequencer can determine that the radiation is to be spot-applied to the target layer. The sequencer can determine the size, shape and location of the spots, the thickness of the layers, the number of layers, the number of protons in each spot, the order of applying each spot, and the order of the layers to be treated.

In some embodiments, the sequencer is configured to be based on one or more of the following, based on two or more of the following, based on three or more of the following Sequencing dose delivery based on three, based on four or more of the following, based on five or more of the following, or based on the following owner: particle beam produced by a particle accelerator The structure of the pulse, the maximum dose per pulse of the particle beam, the sweep time of the scanning magnet to move the particle beam, the time it takes to change the energy of the particle beam, the time it takes to move one or more energy absorbing structures to change the energy of the particle beam Time, the strategy used to adjust the dose, the time it takes to move the collimator used to collimate the particle beam, the time it takes to configure the collimator, or control the range modulator to change the particle beam Time spent on Bragg Peak.

Treatment planning systems can be used with particle therapy systems to treat irradiation targets (or simply, "targets"), such as tumors, using particle beams such as proton beams or ion beams. In this regard, some of these systems treat the target cross-section layer by layer. For example, the energy of the particle beam can be controlled to deliver a radiation dose (or simply, "dose") to a layer and then the particle beam can be moved across all or part of that layer. Thereafter, the energy of the particle beam can be changed to deliver the dose to another layer. The particle beam can be moved across all or part of another layer, and so on, until the entire target has been treated. For example, FIG. 1 shows the use of a particle beam 12 to treat the layer 10 of a target 11 by moving the particle beam across the entire layer 10 in the arrow direction 15, the particle beam having sufficient energy to deliver a dose to the layer. Next, the layer 16 is treated in the same manner using particle beams with different energies sufficient to deliver the dose to the different layers 16 of the target 11, and so on. The treatment of each layer is usually carried out at a relatively average dose rate, such as 0.1 gray per second. The particle beam often penetrates healthy tissue before reaching the target. During the treatment, any part of the healthy tissue can be visited several times. The dose at this site is received within a time scale of approximately several minutes.

In contrast, the particle therapy system can use ultra-high dose rate radiation (FLASH radiation dose) to treat the three-dimensional tube column of the target. These systems use pencil beam scanning to scale to the target's ultra-high dose rate delivery. In some examples, pencil beam scanning involves delivering a series of small particle radiation beams, which can each have a unique direction, energy, and charge. By combining the doses from these individual beams, a three-dimensional target volume can be treated with radiation. In addition, instead of using constant energy to organize the treatment into layers, these systems treat the tissue into the column defined by the direction of the stationary beam. The beam direction can be towards the surface of the target.

In some embodiments, all or part of the tubing string is treated before directing the particle beam along another path through the irradiation target. In some embodiments, the path through the target is through the target in whole or in part. In an example, the particle beam can be guided along a path through the target without deviating from that path. When guided along that path, the energy of the particle beam changes. The particle beam does not move when its energy changes and as a result, the particle beam treats all or part of the internal part of the target that extends along the length of the particle beam and along the width of the beam spot. Therefore, the treatment is performed depth by depth along the longitudinal direction of the beam. For example, a portion of the treated target may extend from the spot of the beam at the surface of the target downward through all or part of the interior of the target. The result is that the particle beam uses radiation to treat the three-dimensional columnar part of the target with ultra-high dose rate. In some examples, the ultra-high dose rate of radiation includes, for example, the following radiation dose: more than 1 Ge radar per second and less than 500 milliseconds (ms) duration, more than 1 Ge radar per second between 10 ms and 5 seconds (s) The duration between or more than 1 Ge radar per second is less than 5 s. Other examples are provided in this article.

In some embodiments, after the tubular string of the target has been treated as described in the preceding paragraph, the particle beam is guided along a new and different path through the target. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the string 20 of the target 21 is treated by changing the energy of the particle beam 22 traveling in the arrow direction 28. The particle beam is then guided along a new path 24 passing through the target 21, in which path the particle beam travels in the arrow direction 29. Then, by changing the energy of the particle beam when the particle beam is stationary, the tube string 25 is treated along the new path. As mentioned, the pipe string is positioned along the longitudinal extent of the beam. In some embodiments, the particle beam is guided only once along each path through the target when treating the tubing string of the target.

As a result of the aforementioned agreement, the healthy tissue above or below the target 21 is exposed to an ultra-high dose rate of radiation once, instead of being exposed to multiple low radiation doses as occurs when the target is treated layer by layer, as shown in FIG. Therefore, in some embodiments, the particle beam is guided along a new path, and no longer visits upstream tissue along that path. In this way, it is possible to treat every part of the target at a rate equivalent to that of the individual pencil beams modulated by the layer switching time. The average dose rate in the entire treatment is comparable to layer-by-layer radiation delivery, but the local dose rate of any spot is at an ultra-high dose rate.

In some cases, when radiation is delivered at an ultra-high dose rate, damage to healthy tissues can be reduced. For example, when a radiation dose of 10 to 20 Gorays is delivered with a pulse of less than 500 ms, so as to achieve an effective dose rate of 20 to 100 Gorays per second, compared to the same dose in a longer time scale. When illuminated, healthy tissue can be less damaged, and the delivered radiation can treat tumors with the same effective degree.

In some embodiments, in order to achieve an ultra-high dose rate, the energy of the particle beam can be changed beyond the rate of energy change used for layer-by-layer scanning. For example, the ultra-high dose rate applied to the target string can be achieved by switching the beam energy within a duration of 50 ms. For example, the ultra-high dose rate applied to the target string can be achieved by switching the beam energy within a duration of 10 ms or less. This can be achieved, for example, by controlling the movement of the particle beam and the movement of the energy absorbing plate or other structure into and out of the path of the particle beam. As an example, a 5 centimeter (cm) deep pipe string that may require 5 layer switching may require a downtime of 250 ms during which the particle beam is not delivered, thereby allowing beam delivery of 250 ms, during which 10 to 20 can be delivered. Gore's dose. The faster movement of the energy absorbing plate and/or the additional coordination of the beam movement can further reduce the layer switching time, thereby allowing even more time to deliver the required therapeutic dose while still meeting local ultra-high dose rate requirements.

The following describes an example implementation of a particle therapy system configured to deliver radiation through the three-dimensional tube column of the target at an ultra-high dose rate according to the treatment plan determined by the treatment planning system. In an example embodiment, the particle therapy system is a proton therapy system. As described herein, the example proton therapy system scans the proton beam across the irradiation target in three dimensions in order to destroy the malignant tissue. Figure 3 shows a cross-section of an example superconducting synchrocyclotron assembly 310 that can be used to provide a beam of particles (eg, protons) in a proton therapy system. In this example, the assembly 310 includes a superconducting magnet 311. The superconducting magnet includes superconducting coils 312 and 313. The superconducting coil is formed by a plurality of integrated conductors, each of which includes superconducting strands, for example, four or six wound around a central strand that can be superconducting or non-superconducting Strands. Each of the superconducting coils 312, 313 is used to conduct a current that generates a magnetic field (B). The yoke 314, 315 or smaller pole piece shapes the other magnetic field in the cavity 316, and the particles are accelerated in the cavity. In an example, a cryostat (not shown) uses liquid helium (He) to conductfully cool each coil to a superconducting temperature, for example, York's (K) 4º.

In some embodiments, the particle accelerator includes a particle source 317, such as a Penning Ion Gauge (PIG) source, to provide an ionized plasma column to the cavity 316. Ionize hydrogen or a combination of hydrogen and inert gas to produce a plasma column. The voltage source provides a varying radio frequency (RF) voltage to the cavity 316 to accelerate particles from the plasma column in the cavity. As mentioned, in the example, the particle accelerator is a synchrocyclotron. Therefore, when the particles are accelerated in the accelerating cavity, the RF voltage is swept across a certain range of frequencies to consider relativistic effects on the particles, such as increasing the particle mass. The RF voltage drives the dee plate contained in the cavity and has a frequency that sweeps down during the acceleration cycle to take into account the increase in the relativistic mass of the proton and the decrease in the magnetic field. The dummy D-shaped board serves as the ground reference for the D-shaped board. The magnetic field generated by passing current through the superconducting coil and sweeping the RF voltage causes the particles from the plasma column to accelerate along the orbit in the cavity and increase the energy as the number of turns increases.

The magnetic field in the cavity is shaped so that the particles move along the orbit in the cavity. The example synchrocyclotron uses a magnetic field whose rotation angle is uniform and whose intensity decreases with increasing radius. In some embodiments, the maximum magnetic field generated by the superconducting (main) coil can be in the range of 4 Tesla (T) to 20 T at the center of the cavity, which decreases as the radius increases. For example, superconducting coils can be used to generate a magnetic field in one or more of the following magnitudes or exceeding one or more of the following magnitudes: 4.0 T, 4.1 T, 4.2 T, 4.3 T, 4.4 T, 4.5 T, 4.6 T, 4.7 T, 4.8 T, 4.9 T, 5.0 T, 5.1 T, 5.2 T, 5.3 T, 5.4 T, 5.5 T, 5.6 T, 5.7 T, 5.8 T, 5.9 T, 6.0 T, 6.1 T, 6.2 T, 6.3 T, 6.4 T, 6.5 T, 6.6 T, 6.7 T, 6.8 T, 6.9 T, 7.0 T, 7.1 T, 7.2 T, 7.3 T, 7.4 T, 7.5 T, 7.6 T, 7.7 T, 7.8 T , 7.9 T, 8.0 T, 8.1 T, 8.2 T, 8.3 T, 8.4 T, 8.5 T, 8.6 T, 8.7 T, 8.8 T, 8.9 T, 9.0 T, 9.1 T, 9.2 T, 9.3 T, 9.4 T, 9.5 T, 9.6 T, 9.7 T, 9.8 T, 9.9 T, 10.0 T, 10.1 T, 10.2 T, 10.3 T, 10.4 T, 10.5 T, 10.6 T, 10.7 T, 10.8 T, 10.9 T, 11.0 T, 11.1 T, 11.2 T, 11.3 T, 11.4 T, 11.5 T, 11.6 T, 11.7 T, 11.8 T, 11.9 T, 12.0 T, 12.1 T, 12.2 T, 12.3 T, 12.4 T, 12.5 T, 12.6 T, 12.7 T, 12.8 T , 12.9 T, 13.0 T, 13.1 T, 13.2 T, 13.3 T, 13.4 T, 13.5 T, 13.6 T, 13.7 T, 13.8 T, 13.9 T, 14.0 T, 14.1 T, 14.2 T, 14.3 T, 14.4 T, 14.5 T, 14.6 T, 14.7 T, 14.8 T, 14.9 T, 15.0 T, 15.1 T, 15.2 T, 15.3 T, 15.4 T, 15.5 T, 15.6 T, 15.7 T, 15.8 T, 15.9 T, 16.0 T, 16.1 T, 16.2 T, 16.3 T, 16.4 T, 16.5 T, 16.6 T, 16.7 T, 16.8 T, 16.9 T, 17.0 T, 17.1 T, 17.2 T, 17.3 T, 17.4 T, 17.5 T, 17.6 T, 17.7 T, 17.8 T , 17.9 T, 18.0 T, 18.1 T, 18.2 T, 18.3 T, 18.4 T, 18 .5 T, 18.6 T, 18.7 T, 18.8 T, 18.9 T, 19.0 T, 19.1 T, 19.2 T, 19.3 T, 19.4 T, 19.5 T, 19.6 T, 19.7 T, 19.8 T, 19.9 T, 20.0 T, 20.1 T, 20.2 T, 20.3 T, 20.4 T, 20.5 T, 20.6 T, 20.7 T, 20.8 T, 20.9 T or more than 20.9 T. In addition, superconducting coils can be used to generate magnetic fields outside the range of 4 T to 20 T or within the range of 4 T to 20 T but not specifically listed in this article.

In some embodiments, such as the one shown in Figure 3, the relatively large ferromagnetic yokes 314, 315 act as a return for the stray magnetic field generated by the superconducting coil. In some systems, a magnetic shield (not shown) surrounds the yoke. The return yoke and the shield are used together to reduce the stray magnetic field, thereby reducing the possibility that the stray magnetic field will adversely affect the operation of the particle accelerator.

In some embodiments, the return yoke and shield can be replaced or expanded by an active return system. An example active return system includes one or more active return coils that conduct current in the opposite direction to the current through the main superconducting coil. In some example implementations, for each superconducting main coil, there is one active return coil, for example, two active return coils—one active return coil for each main superconducting coil. Each active return coil can also be a superconducting coil concentrically surrounding the outside of the corresponding main superconducting coil.

By using an active return system, the relatively large ferromagnetic yokes 314, 315 can be replaced with smaller and lighter pole pieces. Therefore, the size and weight of the synchrocyclotron can be further reduced without sacrificing performance. An example of an active return system that can be used is described in US Patent No. 8,791,656 entitled "Active Return System", the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.

At or near the output end of the extraction channel of the particle accelerator, there may be one or more beam shaping elements including a scanning system. The components of the scanning system can be mounted on the nozzle or otherwise attached to the nozzle that is positioned relatively close to the patient during treatment.

Referring to FIG. 4, in an example embodiment, an example scanning component 422 that can be used to make a particle beam move three-dimensionally on and through the irradiation target is in the synchrocyclotron 421 (which may have the configuration of FIG. 3) Extract at the output end of channel 420. Figure 5 also shows an example of the components of Figure 4. These components include, but are not limited to, one or more scanning magnets 424, ion chambers 425, degraders 426, and configurable collimators 428. Some implementations may not include a configurable collimator. In example implementations such as these, the particle beam passes through the deenergizer and is delivered to the patient without subsequent adjustments such as alignment. Other components that can be in the downstream direction of the extraction channel are not shown in FIG. 4 or FIG. 5, and may include, for example, one or more scattering devices for changing the beam spot size. Example scattering devices include plates or range modulators that disperse the particle beam as it passes through the scattering device.

In an example operation, the scanning magnet 424 can be controlled in two dimensions (e.g., Cartesian XY dimensions) to position the particle beam in both of them and move the particle beam across at least a portion of the irradiation target. The ion chamber 425 detects the dose of the beam and feeds that information back to the control system to adjust the beam movement. The deenergizer 426 can be controlled to move the structure in and out of the path of the particle beam, thereby changing the energy of the particle beam and therefore the depth to which the dose of the particle beam will be deposited in the irradiation target. Examples of such structures include, but are not limited to, energy absorbing plates; polyhedrons, such as wedges, tetrahedrons, or toroidal polyhedrons; and curved three-dimensional shapes, such as cylinders, spheres, or cones. In this way, the deenergizer can allow the particle beam to deposit the radiation dose inside the irradiation target to treat the target's tube column. In this regard, as protons move through the tissue, the protons ionize the atoms of the tissue and deposit a dose along its path. The Bragg peak is a prominent peak on the Bragg curve that plots the energy loss caused by the ionization of radiation during travel through the tissue. The Bragg Peak represents the depth at which most of the protons are deposited in the tissue. For protons, the Bragg peak appears just before the particles start to stand still. Therefore, the energy of the particle beam can be changed to change the position of the Bragg peak, and therefore most of the proton dose will be deposited deep in the tissue.

6 and 7 show views of an example scanning magnet 424. In this example, the scanning magnet 424 includes: two coils 441, which control the movement of the particle beam in the X dimension; and two coils 442, which control the movement of the particle beam in the Y dimension. In some embodiments, control is achieved by changing the current through one or both sets of coils to thereby change the resulting magnetic field. By appropriately changing the magnetic field, the particle beam can move across the irradiation target in X and/or Y dimensions. The previously described de-energizer can move the beam past the target in the Z dimension, thereby achieving three-dimensional scanning.

Referring back to FIG. 4, the current sensor 427 may be connected to the scanning magnet 424 or otherwise associated with the scanning magnet. For example, the current sensor can communicate with the scanning magnet, but is not connected to the scanning magnet. In some embodiments, the current sensor samples the current applied to the magnet 424, which may include current to the coil for controlling the beam scanning in the X dimension and/or to the coil for controlling the beam The current scanned in the Y dimension. The current sensor may sample the current through the magnet at a rate corresponding to the time the pulse appears in the particle beam or at a rate that exceeds the rate at which the pulse appears in the particle beam. The sample that identifies the magnet current is related to the detection of pulses by the ion chamber described below. For example, the time to detect the pulse using the ion chamber can be temporally related to the sample from the current sensor, thereby identifying the current in the magnet coil at the time of the pulse. Therefore, by using the magnet current, it is possible to determine that it is possible to irradiate a site within the target, at which each pulse and therefore the radiation dose (ie, the particle dose) is delivered. It can also be based on the configuration of the degrader, for example, based on the number of plates in the beam path, to determine where the dose is delivered in the target.

During operation, for each part where a dose is delivered, the magnitude of the magnet current and the amount (for example, intensity) of the dose can be stored. A control system, which can be on or away from the accelerator and which can include memory and one or more processing devices, can correlate the magnet current with the coordinates within the irradiation target, and their coordinates can be stored along with the amount of dose. For example, the part can be identified by the depth direction layer number and Cartesian XY coordinates or by the Cartesian XYZ coordinates, where the depth direction layer corresponds to the Z coordinate. In some implementations, both the magnitude of the magnet current and the coordinate location can be stored along with the dose at each location. This information can be stored on the middle accelerator or in the memory away from the accelerator. This information can be used to track the treatment of the target and maintain the record of that treatment.

The ion chamber 425 detects the dose, such as one or more individual doses, applied by the particle beam to the location within the irradiation target by detecting the number of ion pairs generated in the gas caused by incident radiation. The number of ion pairs corresponds to the dose provided by the particle beam. This information is fed back to the control system and stored in the memory together with the time when the dose was provided. This information can be related to the location where the dose is provided and/or the magnitude of the magnet current at that time and stored in conjunction with the location and/or the magnitude, as described above.

As mentioned previously, some implementations do not include a configurable collimator. In an example implementation that includes a configurable collimator, the configurable collimator 428 may be located in the beam-down direction of the scanning magnet and in the beam-down direction of the degrader, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. During the time the particle beam moves through the target path by path, the configurable collimator can trim the particle beam on a spot-by-spot basis. When the particle beam is stationary on the target and when the energy of the stationary particle beam changes to affect different parts of the interior of the target, the collimator can be configured and the particle beam can also be trimmed. For example, the particle beam can be spread along its diameter as it enters the interior of the target. The spread can be changed according to different depths inside. The collimator can be configured to trim the particle beam to account for its spread. For example, the collimator can be configured and reconfigured so that the diameter or size of the spot remains the same for the entire tube string being treated.

In some embodiments, the configurable collimator may include a collection of blades that face each other and that can be moved in or out of the carrier to create an aperture shape. The part of the particle beam that exceeds the shape of the aperture is blocked and not delivered to the patient. The portion of the beam delivered to the patient is at least partially aligned, thereby providing a relatively precise edge for the beam. In some embodiments, each blade in the set of blades placed on a bracket in, for example, a configurable collimator can be controlled by a single linear motor to define an edge that can move into the path of the particle beam so that The first part of the particle beam on the first side of the edge is blocked by the plurality of blades and such that the second part of the particle beam on the second side of the edge is not blocked by the plurality of blades. The blades in each set can be individually controlled during scanning to trim areas as small as a single spot, and it can also be used to trim larger spots. The ability to trim a single spot can be significant when treating the target's tube string, because for different particle beam energies, different amounts of trimming may need to be performed.

FIG. 8 shows an example range modulator 460, which is an example implementation of the energy reducer 426. In some embodiments, the range modulator 460 may be located in the beam direction of the scanning magnet between the configurable collimator and the patient. In some implementations such as the implementation shown in FIG. 8, the range modulator includes a series of plates 461. The plates may be made of one or more of the following example materials: polycarbonate such as LEXAN ^™ , carbon, beryllium, boron carbide, composite materials composed of boron carbide and graphite, or materials with low atomic numbers. However, instead of or in addition to these example materials, other materials may also be used. In other embodiments including polyhedrons such as wedges, tetrahedrons, or annular polyhedrons, or curved three-dimensional structures such as cylinders, spheres, or cones, these structures can be made from one or more of the following example materials Composition: Polycarbonate such as LEXAN ^TM , carbon, beryllium, boron carbide, composite materials composed of boron carbide and graphite, or materials with low atomic numbers.

In some embodiments, the structure of the range modulator containing boron carbide may only include boron carbide; that is, the structures may be pure boron carbide. In some embodiments, the structure containing boron carbide may include a combination of boron carbide and another material such as graphite, polycarbonate, carbon, or beryllium. In some embodiments, each structure (for example, plate, polyhedron, or curved three-dimensional structure) in the energy degrader may contain all or part of boron carbide. In some embodiments, the different structures in the energy degrader (e.g., plates, polyhedrons, or curved three-dimensional structures) may include different materials. For example, one or more of the plates in the degrader may be made of pure boron carbide, and one or more of the other plates of the same degrader may be made of polycarbonate, carbon and/or beryllium or include one of them Or more. Other materials can also be used. For example, one or more of the plates or parts of the energy degrader may be made of composite materials composed of boron carbide and graphite.

One or more of the plates can be moved in or out of the beam path to thereby change the energy of the particle beam, and therefore the depth at which most of the dose of the particle beam is deposited in the irradiation target. The board moves in and out of the path of the particle beam on the entity. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, the plate 470 moves along the arrow direction 472 between a position in the path of the particle beam 473 and a position outside the path of the particle beam. These boards are controlled by computers. Generally speaking, the number of plates moving into the path of the particle beam corresponds to the depth of the scan of the irradiated target. Therefore, the dose from the particle beam can be guided into the interior of the target by proper control of one or more plates.

In some implementations, the individual plates of the range modulator 460 are each coupled to and driven by the corresponding motor 464. Generally speaking, motors include devices that convert a certain form of energy into motion. The motor can be rotary or linear, and can be electric, hydraulic or pneumatic. For example, each motor can be an electric motor that drives a lead screw to extend the plate into the beam field or retract the plate outside the beam field, including causing the plate to move to track or track the particle beam in the beam field The movement. For example, each motor can be a rotary motor that drives a corresponding linear actuator to control the movement of the corresponding structure. In some implementations, the individual plates of the range modulator 460 are each coupled to and driven by the corresponding actuator. In some examples, actuators include mechanical or electromechanical devices that provide controlled movement and can be operated electrically (by a motor), hydraulically, pneumatically, mechanically, or thermally. In some examples, the actuator includes any type of motor that is operated by an energy source such as electric current, hydraulic fluid pressure, or pneumatic pressure and converts that energy into motion.

In some embodiments, a deenergizer containing a boron carbide structure (or a structure made of other materials) may be located in a treatment room where the particle beam is applied to the patient. For example, the degrader may be located between the scanning magnet and the patient. In an example, the deenergizer may be located in a nozzle on an internal platform of the system, and examples of the internal platform are described in relation to FIGS. 26, 27, and 28.

The deenergizer can be positioned close to the patient in order to limit the amount of particle beam scattering or dispersion after passing through one or more plates or other structures. In some embodiments, the deenergizer may be located no more than four meters from the patient along the beamline of the particle beam. In some embodiments, the deenergizer may be located no more than three meters from the patient along the beamline of the particle beam. In some embodiments, the deenergizer may be located no more than two meters from the patient along the beamline of the particle beam. In some embodiments, the deenergizer may be located no more than one meter from the patient along the beamline of the particle beam. In some embodiments, the deenergizer may be located no more than one-half meter away from the patient along the beamline of the particle beam. In some embodiments, the deenergizer may be located within the nozzle no more than four meters from the patient along the beamline of the particle beam. In some embodiments, the deenergizer may be located within the nozzle no more than three meters from the patient along the beamline of the particle beam. In some embodiments, the deenergizer may be located within the nozzle no more than two meters from the patient along the beamline of the particle beam. In some embodiments, the deenergizer may be located within the nozzle no more than one meter from the patient along the beamline of the particle beam. In some embodiments, the deenergizer may be located within the nozzle not more than one-half meter from the patient along the beamline of the particle beam.

Generally speaking, the use of boron carbide may be cheaper and safer than some other materials that can be used to degrade the energy of the particle beam, such as beryllium. In general, boron carbide has a relatively low atomic weight and high density, and its scattering properties can advantageously be comparable to some other materials that can be used to degrade the energy of particle beams, such as carbon (eg, graphite) and polycarbonate. Reducing beam scattering will result in a reduced beam spot size; that is, the cross-sectional size of the beam. The reduced spot size provides the improved shape retention and higher local dose rate of the pencil beam scanning system. In other words, reducing the spot size reduces the area where the dose is deposited. As a result, the concentration of protons deposited in a single spot increases, thereby increasing the dose rate in the area of the single spot. When scanning is performed using an ultra-high (or FLASH) dose rate, it is desirable to increase the dose rate in the area of a single spot because it promotes the deposition of ultra-high doses of protons within a prescribed period of time. Examples of periods during which ultra-high doses are applied are described herein.

Fig. 29 is a graph showing the change in particle beam spot size for different particle beam energies of different materials used in the energy degrader to change the energy of the particle beam. In this example, LEXAN ^™ , carbon (for example, graphite), boron carbide, and beryllium are shown. According to the graph in FIG. 29, for example, the boron carbide degrader structure generates a particle beam with a spot size of less than 1.2 centimeters (cm) σ (sigma) at an energy of 70 million electron volts (MeV). In this example, the spot size is measured at the output end of the degrader structure. The spot can scatter the beam, causing the beam to travel further in the air, which will cause the spot size to increase. However, placing the degrader sufficiently close to the patient will limit scattering. In addition, in some but not all situations, a configurable collimator can be placed between the deenergizer and the patient to collimate the particle beam.

In addition to the aforementioned advantages, the size of the energy reducer based on boron carbide can be reduced compared to the energy reducer using, for example, polycarbonate. That is, the degrader based on boron carbide can achieve substantially the same effect as the degrader based on polycarbonate, but the degrader based on boron carbide can have a smaller appearance size than that based on polycarbonate. . This is because the density of boron carbide is greater than that of polycarbonate. In some examples, the energy degrader made of pure boron carbide plates may be 30 centimeters (cm) to 40 cm thick along the beam line. The plates can have the same or varying thickness. The thickness of the plate and the degrader itself will depend on various factors, such as the total amount of energy change required and the number of layers to be treated, which can determine the number and thickness of each of the plates.

The reduced size of the energy reducer made of boron carbide will make the energy reducer less conspicuous in the treatment room. For example, a deenergizer composed of all or some boron carbide structures can be housed in a nozzle on an internal stand. The nozzle including the degrader can be completely retracted into the internal gantry, so that the degrader can leave the path for the technician to administer treatment. In some embodiments, the internal gantry may be flush with the wall of the treatment room, in which case, fully retracting the nozzle and degrader into the internal gantry will cause the nozzle and degrader to fully retract into the wall.

Figure 10 shows an example implementation of a range modulator, such as a boron carbide-based range modulator, which uses linear motors to control the operation of the energy absorbing plates 101, 102, and 103. The range modulator of FIG. 10 may additionally have the configuration of the range modulator of FIG. 8. Although only three plates are shown in the example of FIG. 10, any suitable number of plates may be included, as illustrated by the oval point 106.

Taking the board 102 as an example, an example linear motor that controls the operation of the board 102 includes a movable component and a stationary component composed of two parts (in this example, magnets 110a and 110b). The two magnets are arranged side by side with their magnetic poles aligned. That is, as shown, the positive pole (+) of the magnet 110a is aligned with the positive pole (+) of the magnet 110b, and the negative pole (-) of the magnet 110a is aligned with the negative pole (-) of the magnet 110b. The movable assembly includes a coil carrier plate 109 between the magnets 110a and 110b. The coil carrier plate 109 is physically connected to the energy absorption plate 102, and controls the energy absorption plate 102 to move along the arrow direction 111, for example, to move in and out of the path of the particle beam.

As explained, the coil carrier plate 109 includes one or more conductive traces or other conductive structures that pass current to generate a magnetic field. The magnetic field is controlled by controlling the current through the coil carrier plate to control the movement of the coil carrier plate and therefore the energy absorbing plate 102. That is, the current passing through the coil generates a magnetic field, which interacts with the magnetic field generated by the magnets 110a and 110b. This interaction causes the coil carrier plate 109 and the energy absorption plate 102 to move in or out of the particle beam path along the arrow direction 111. For example, a larger magnetic field generated by the coil carrier plate 109 can cause the energy absorbing plate to move into the particle beam path, and a smaller or opposite magnetic field generated by the coil carrier plate can cause the energy absorbing plate to retract away from the particle beam path.

In some embodiments, the conductive traces or other conductive structures on the coil carrier board may include three windings embedded in aluminum. In some embodiments, the energy absorbing plate may be physically attached to the coil carrier plate and move with the coil carrier plate. In some implementations, the number of windings and the materials used can be different from the numbers and materials described herein. In some embodiments, the coil carrier plate may be an integral part of the energy absorbing plate. For example, the energy absorbing plate itself may include conductive structures or traces.

As shown in FIG. 10, in some implementations, the current through the coil carrier board can be controlled by signals received from a control system such as the computing system 114. The computing system may be susceptible to neutron radiation and therefore may be located in the remote chamber 116. In some embodiments, the distal chamber 116 may be shielded from neutron radiation generated by the particle accelerator. In some embodiments, the distal chamber may be located far enough away from the treatment chamber 117 to be protected from neutron radiation from the particle accelerator. In some embodiments, the computing system can be located in the treatment room, but can be shielded from neutron radiation emitted by the particle accelerator. In some implementations, all computing functionality is shielded from neutron radiation, and unshielded electronic devices can still operate in the presence of neutron radiation. Encoders are examples of such electronic devices.

In this regard, the encoder (not shown) may include one or more of a laser sensor, an optical sensor, or a diode sensor. The encoder detects the movement of the coil carrier plate, for example, by detecting the coil carrier plate or a mark or other mark on a structure connected to the coil carrier plate and moving along with the coil carrier plate relative to the encoder. This information about where the coil carrier is located is fed back to the computing system and used by the computing system to confirm the position of the coil carrier during operation. The encoder can be located at any suitable location. In some embodiments, the encoder is located on a housing that includes a coil carrier plate. When the board moves, the mark or other mark that moves with the coil carrier board moves through the encoder. The encoder then forwards the information to the computing system 114. The computing system 114 can use that information to control the operation of the range modulator, including positioning its energy absorbing plate.

The arithmetic system 114, which can be composed of one or more processing devices, can be programmed to control the proton therapy system used to deliver proton therapy based on the treatment plan, including components of the scanning system, such as the volume in a patient containing diseased tissue Ultra-high-dose-rate radiation therapy is carried out in the radiation target column by column. For example, the computing system may be controllable based on the treatment plan to output one or more control signals to control one or more of the linear motors to extend or retract one or more of the energy absorbing plates during scanning. By. For example, the computing system may be controllable based on the treatment plan to output one or more control signals to control one or more electric motors to extend or retract one or more of the energy absorbing panels during scanning. The computing system may include one or more processing devices, such as microprocessors, microcontrollers, field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or application-specific circuits (ASIC).

Figure 30 shows the components of an example treatment planning system 1200 that can be implemented on a control system such as the computing system 114 or on a different computing system separate from the control system. The treatment planning system includes modules for implementing different functions of the treatment planning system, which may include, for example, data and/or routines composed of source code, compiled code, or interpreted code. The modules can be time dependent in the sense that the delivery of radiation at an ultra-high dose rate depends on the ability to deliver that radiation at a specific dose within a specific time. Examples of dosage and timing are provided herein.

The example module includes a prediction model 1201. The predictive model defines the characteristics of a particle therapy system or a modeled particle therapy system, which includes, but is not limited to, a particle accelerator that generates radiation for delivery to a patient and a scanning system that guides the radiation. The predictive model also defines the characteristics of the patient to be treated or modeled the patient, including the volume to be delivered with radiation and the volume without radiation. In some implementations, one or more data structures stored in computer memory may be used at least in part to implement the predictive model. The instance data structure includes data values, the relationship between their values, and the collection of functions or operations that can be applied to the data. Examples of data structures that can be used to implement predictive models can include one or more of the following: look-up table (LUT), array, stack, queue, link list, tree, graph, dictionary tree or prefix tree, or scattered List. The predictive model may also include executable code to interact with other modules and retrieve data from the data structure. One or more computer programming objects written in an object-oriented language can also be used to implement predictive models.

The prediction model 1201 can be filled in the following ways: manual, automatic, or a combination of manual and automatic. For example, to manually fill in the predictive model, a part of the code used to implement the predictive model can be executed to generate a prompt displayed on the electronic display device to the treatment planning technician. The treatment planning technician can enter information into the predictive model in response to the prompt. The information may include values based on or assigned to the physical properties of the particle therapy system, the patient, the target in the patient, and other related parameters. This information may be related to the ability of the particle therapy system to deliver radiation to the patient sequentially; for example, in a spot or tube sequence within the time required to deliver a FLASH dose or radiation. For example, the information may be related to but not limited to the following: the structure of the pulses of the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator, such as the duration of each pulse; the maximum dose per pulse of the particle beam, such as each pulse The number of particles; the sweep time for the scanning magnet to move the particle beam a specified distance; the time it takes to change the energy of the particle beam, for example, by changing the energy of a variable energy accelerator; moving one or more energy absorbing structures to change the particle beam The time it takes for the energy; the strategy used to adjust the dose, for example, to apply ultra-high dose rate radiation to the target’s pipe column or to apply the dose to the target layer by layer at a lower rate; movement is used to align the particle beam The time it takes for the collimator and/or the time it takes to configure the collimator, or the time it takes to control the range modulator to change the Bragg peak of the particles in the particle beam. Therefore, in general, a predictive model can define the characteristics of the timing of radiation (eg, particle therapy) delivered or can be delivered to the patient. The information may include: the type of the disease to be treated, such as a tumor; the location of the tumor in the patient’s body, which is specified by, for example, XYZ coordinates; the size and shape of the diseased tissue including its volume; and the number of healthy tissues surrounding the diseased tissue Type; the location of healthy tissue, which is specified by, for example, XYZ coordinates; the size and shape of healthy tissue including its volume; and any other information about patients and diseases that can be related to treatment, such as past medical history, previous treatments, surgery, and Similar.

In some implementations, all or some of the aforementioned information in the predictive model may be stored in a control system such as the computing system 114. The treatment planning system can query the control system to obtain all or some of this information without input from the user.

Example modules include RBE model 1202. As explained previously, the RBE model defines the characteristics of the relative bioavailability of radiation to tissues in a time-dependent manner. For example, when radiation is applied at an ultra-high (FLASH) dose rate, compared to when healthy tissue is irradiated with the same dose on a longer time scale, the same tissue suffers less damage, and the effect of treating tumors is similar. The RBE model can include information about different types of healthy and non-healthy tissues and the effects of different radiation dose rates on their different types of tissues. For example, the RBE model can specify the radiation dose necessary to effectively treat adenoma, carcinoma, sarcoma, or lymphoma. The dose required to treat these tumors may not be time dependent; therefore, the dose rate may not be specified. However, in some embodiments, the dose rate used to treat tumors can be specified in the RBE model. For the reasons explained previously, the rate at which a dose is applied to healthy tissue during radiation therapy can affect the damage caused by radiation to healthy tissue. Therefore, the RBE model can specify the time-dependent effect of dose rate on healthy tissue. In this regard, examples of unhealthy tissues include benign and malignant neoplasms and body tissues affected by other types of diseases. Examples of healthy tissues include bones, skin, muscles or organs that are not affected by disease. The RBE model can also include the effects of different types of radiation on different types of tissues at different dose rates. The example system described herein uses proton radiation; however, the RBE model can include information about other types of radiation, such as other types of ion radiation, photon radiation, or X-ray radiation.

The RBE model can also include information about how different types of healthy and non-healthy tissues affect the radiation applied to them. As previously explained, the equivalent dose may include the amount of deposited radiation required to treat the diseased tissue in the patient taking into account the biological effect of the tissue in the patient on the deposited radiation. In this regard, some tissues may not absorb the full dose of deposited radiation. Therefore, the information from the RBE model can be used to weight the dose to account for the biological effects of tissue on radiation. The obtained equivalent dose takes into account the biological effects of radiation. For example, a given tissue can degrade the destructive effects of a certain type of radiation by 10%. Therefore, the equivalent dose can be increased by 10% to take into account this biological factor.

In some implementations, one or more data structures stored in computer memory can be used at least in part to implement the RBE model. The instance data structure includes data values, the relationship between their values, and the collection of functions or operations that can be applied to the data. Examples of data structures that can be used to implement the RBE model can include one or more of the following: look-up table (LUT), array, stack, queue, link list, tree, graph, dictionary tree or prefix tree, or scatter List. The RBE model can also include executable code to interact with other modules and retrieve data from the data structure. One or more computer programming objects written in an object-oriented language can also be used to implement the RBE model.

The RBE model 1202 can be filled in in the following ways: manual, automatic, or a combination of manual and automatic. For example, to manually fill in the RBE model, part of the code used to implement the RBE model can be executed to generate a prompt displayed on the electronic display device to the treatment planning technician. The treatment planning technician can enter information into the RBE model in response to the prompts. This information can include values based on or assigned to different types of tumors, different types of radiation, different doses, and different dose rates. For example, the RBE model may include one or more lists of diseases such as tumors. The RBE model can identify different types of radiation that can treat each disease, such as protons, photons, or X-rays. For each type of radiation, the RBE model can identify one or more ranges of doses that can treat a given diseased volume. For each type of radiation, the RBE model can identify one or more ranges of dose rates that can treat a given diseased volume. In this regard, as mentioned, dose rate may not always be a factor in the treatment of diseased tissue; in some cases, regardless of dose rate, the dose itself may be critical. The RBE model can identify different types of healthy tissues, such as muscles, bones, skin, and organs. RBE can specify the effects of different dose rates of different types of radiation (for example, the dose applied over a period of time) on their types of tissues. For example, RBE can specify the effects of different levels of FLASH and non-FLASH dose rates of different types of radiation on different types of tissues. For example, RBE can specify the effects of different levels of FLASH and non-FLASH dose rates of proton radiation on healthy muscles, bones, skin and organs. These effects can be quantified. For example, the damage to the tissue can be specified on a numerical scale from 0 to 10, where 0 is no damage and 10 is damage to the tissue. For example, the effects can be specified using descriptive information that can be read and understood electronically, such as by a dose calculation engine. The RBE model can specify the effects of different types of radiation on the effectiveness of that radiation, and includes weighting factors to offset these effects.

In some embodiments, all or some of the aforementioned information in the RBE model may be stored in a control system such as the computing system 114. The treatment planning system can query the control system to obtain all or some of this information without input from a user such as a treatment planning technician.

The example module includes a dose calculation engine 1203. The dose calculation engine 1203 is configured, for example, programmed or programmed, to determine the radiation doses of the voxels to be delivered to the patient, and in some instances the rate at which those doses are delivered to the patient. In this regard, the dose calculation engine 1203 may receive the total target radiation dose to be delivered to the diseased tissue in the patient, the dose distribution on the tissue, or both the total target dose and the dose distribution from, for example, a treatment planning technician. The dose calculation engine obtains information about the radiation delivery system and the patient from the prediction model. The dose calculation engine obtains information about the RBE of the diseased tissue and healthy tissue from the radiation to be delivered by the system from the RBE model. The information from the prediction model and the RBE model is then used to determine the dose and dose rate of radiation to be applied to the patient.

For example, the dose calculation engine obtains the composition of the tumor to be treated in the patient. As mentioned, this information can be obtained, for example, from a predictive model or input from a treatment planning technician. The composition may include the type of tumor, the size or volume of the tumor, and the shape of the tumor. The dose calculation engine obtains information about healthy tissues in the patient adjacent to the tumor. This information can be obtained, for example, from a predictive model or input from a treatment planning technician. The information may include the type of healthy tissue, the position of the healthy tissue relative to the diseased tissue, and whether the healthy tissue has been previously exposed to radiation. The dose calculation engine also obtains information about the maximum dose rate that can be achieved using particle accelerators, scanning systems, and other hardware in the particle therapy system. This information can be obtained from the predictive model or determined based on the information in the model. The dose calculation engine also obtains information about how the radiation dose applied by the system treats, affects or treats and affects diseased tissues and healthy tissues. This information can be obtained from the RBE model. The dose calculation engine also obtains information on how the tissue within the patient affects the radiation applied by the system (for example, radiation absorption) and any weighting factors needed to counteract such effects. This information can be obtained from the RBE model.

The dose calculation engine is configured to determine the dose plan to be applied to the patient. The dosage regimen may include equivalent doses to be delivered to the patient and the rate of their equivalent doses to be delivered based on the aforementioned information obtained from the predictive model and the aforementioned information obtained from the RBE model. For example, as explained earlier, when radiation is applied at a super high (FLASH) dose rate, the same tissue suffers less damage than when the same dose is irradiated on a longer time scale and the same tissue is treated at the same time The effect of tumor is similar. In other words, for tumors or other diseased tissues, compared to the dose rate, the key factor in the treatment is the total radiation dose, while for healthy tissues, the dose rate is a factor that reduces damage to undesired damage. In this example, knowing the characteristics of the diseased tissue to be treated in the patient, the characteristics of the healthy tissue adjacent to the diseased tissue, the ability of the system to deliver radiation, the RBE of the radiation on the diseased tissue and the healthy tissue, and the In the case of target dose and/or dose distribution, the dose calculation engine divides the diseased tissue to be treated, such as the target volume, into voxels, determines the radiation dose to be applied to each voxel, and sets the rate at which that dose is to be delivered. For example, the dose calculation engine may determine that a radiation dose exceeding one (1) Goray per second is applied to each voxel for a duration of less than five (5) seconds. For example, the dose calculation engine may determine to apply a radiation dose exceeding one (1) Goray per second to each voxel for a duration of less than 500 ms. For example, the dose calculation engine may determine that a radiation dose between 40 grays per second and 120 grays per second is applied to each voxel for a duration of less than 500 ms. As described for example with respect to FIGS. 12 to 19 and FIGS. 33 to 42, the radiation can be applied column by column, thereby reducing damage to healthy tissue through which the radiation travels to reach the target. In some embodiments, ultra-high dose rate radiation can be applied to the entire target once, for example by scattering the radiation across the target, changing the energy when the radiation is stationary (as described in relation to Figures 12 to 19 and Figures 33 to 42 ) And the use of bolus to limit the exposure of healthy tissue to radiation.

In some implementations, the dose calculation engine can look at the time scale of the dose to be delivered and apply one or more weights to individual doses in an attempt to adjust the RBE of the radiation. For example, the dose calculation engine can be configured to apply a weighting factor to the dose to the voxel to adjust the RBE based on the duration of the dose to be applied. As mentioned, biology can affect how radiation doses are deposited and how tissues respond to doses. A weighting factor can be applied to offset these biological effects. The weighting factor produces an equivalent dose, and as explained earlier, the equivalent dose has been adjusted to take into account the biological effects in order to deliver a certain amount of damaging radiation that can actually be absorbed by the patient. In an example, the weighting factor increases the dose for a duration to produce an ultra-high dose rate or increase an already ultra-high dose rate. In the example, the weighting factor reduces the dose for a duration while still at an ultra-high dose rate or reduced to a conventional dose rate.

Example modules include sequencer 1204 (or "optimizer"). The sequencer 1204 generates instructions for sequencing dose delivery based on the model. In some embodiments, the sequencer is configured to generate instructions for sequencing dose delivery in order to optimize the effective dose determined by the dose calculation engine. For example, the instructions can be executed by the control system to control the particle therapy system to provide the specified dose to each voxel at the specified dose rate. The delivery of the dose may be automatic or it may require input from the user. As explained previously, the sequencer is configured, for example, programmed or programmed, to sequence dose delivery based on information from a predictive model or other information provided by a technician, for example. The dose sequence may be intended to optimize (e.g., minimize) the time it takes to deliver a dose, and thus may facilitate the delivery of radiation at an ultra-high dose rate. For example, the sequencer can be configured to be based on one or more of the following, based on two or more of each of the following, based on three or more of the following , Sequencing of dose delivery based on four or more of the following, based on five or more of the following, or based on the following owners: pulses of particle beams generated by particle accelerators The structure of the particle beam, the maximum dose per pulse of the particle beam, the sweep time of the scanning magnet to move the particle beam, the time it takes to change the energy of the particle beam, the time it takes to move one or more energy absorbing structures to change the energy of the particle beam, The strategy used to adjust the dose, the time it takes to move the collimator used to collimate the particle beam, the time it takes to configure the collimator, or to control the range modulator to change the Bragg peak of the particles in the particle beam The time spent. In this regard, operations such as these affect the time during which a dose can be delivered. To achieve ultra-high dose rates, consider timing, as described in this article. Therefore, when deciding where the dose is to be delivered to the irradiation target, factors such as these factors are considered in order to meet the time constraints necessary to achieve the ultra-high dose rate and its benefits.

In some implementations, the determination value may be for all or some of the following or may be assigned to all or some of the following: the structure of the pulse of the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator, each pulse of the particle beam Maximum dose, the sweep time of the scanning magnet to move the particle beam, the time it takes to change the energy of the particle beam, the time it takes to move one or more energy absorbing structures to change the energy of the particle beam, the strategy for adjusting the dose, the movement The time it takes for the collimator to collimate the particle beam, the time it takes to configure the collimator, or the time it takes to control the range modulator to change the Bragg peak of the particles in the particle beam.

The sequencer knows how to deliver the dose, for example in a tube string or spot and at an ultra-high dose rate, and determines the order of delivery of the dose based on calculations performed considering the aforementioned values. For example, referring to FIG. 31, the overlapping voxels of the target are shown, including adjacent voxels 1205, 1206, 1207, and 1208. The sequencer can determine based on its calculations that it is possible to move the particle beam from voxel 1205 to voxel 1206 and still achieve an ultra-high dose rate for all voxels in the target, because the particle beam can then move to neighboring voxels 1207, neighboring voxels 1208, etc. The sequencer can also determine that it is impossible to move the particle beam from voxel 1205 to voxel 1207 based on its calculations, and still achieve an ultra-high dose rate for all voxels in the target. This may be because when the beam moves between non-adjacent voxels 1206 and 1208 without interrupting the particle beam, it will take too much time to move or reconfigure hardware such as the collimator or energy absorption plate in the system. In other words, the sequencer has determined to sequentially treat the treatment sequence of adjacent voxels at an ultra-high dose rate, thereby reducing the amount of mechanical movement to reconfigure the system between treatment sites while maintaining the particle beam.

In some embodiments, the sequencer can assign several different values to each of the following: the structure of the pulses of the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator, the maximum dose per pulse of the particle beam, the scanning magnet moving the particle beam The sweep time, the time it takes to change the energy of the particle beam, the time it takes to move one or more energy absorbing structures to change the energy of the particle beam, the strategy for adjusting the dose, and the movement to collimate the particle beam. The time it takes for the collimator, the time it takes to configure the collimator, or the time it takes to control the range modulator to change the Bragg peak of the particles in the particle beam. The sequencer can repeatedly traverse the calculation of these different values to obtain an optimized sequence, and the radiation dose should be applied in the optimized sequence to meet the desired dose rate. Optimization can include obtaining the best sequence in terms of time and treatment or obtaining an improved sequence in terms of time and treatment.

As an example, a cubic treatment volume such as a tumor of approximately 4 cm×4 cm×4 cm is to be treated at 2 Gy. The treatment plan includes 5 layers, each with 25 spots; that is, 5 columns×5 columns, and the volume is 125 spots in total. The system delivers a proton pulse every 1.3 ms. In this example, each spot must receive at least 4 pulses, so the dose can be accurately delivered to that spot through active dose control of the charge in each pulse. The deepest layer requires 6 pulses because of the need for more charge there. The scanning magnet moves fast enough so that it can move from one spot to an adjacent spot in less than 1.3 ms, so no extra time is needed for beam scanning. In this example, the energy layer switching takes 50 ms.

The following example treatment plan excerpts are implemented using layer-by-layer treatment, such as the layer-by-layer treatment described in relation to FIG. 1. If the treatment is arranged in layers from the deepest (1) to the shallowest (5), then: -Beam delivery starts at time t=0 -Each spot in layer 1 takes 1.3 ms × 6 pulses = 7.8 ms to deliver -It takes no time to move between spots -The entire layer takes 7.8 ms × 25 spots = 195 ms. -It takes 50 ms to switch to the next layer, and the beam delivery on the next layer starts at t=245 ms. -Each spot in layers 2 to 5 takes 4 pulses × 1.3 ms = 5.2 ms to deliver. Each layer takes 5.2 ms×25 spots=130 ms. -Layer 2 beam delivery ends at t=325 ms. -Layer 3 beam delivery ends at t=505 ms. -Layer 4 beam delivery ends at t=685 ms. -Layer 5 beam delivery ends, and the entire treatment ends at t=865 ms. In the above example, under some definitions, 2 Gy is delivered to the entire volume within 865 ms, and the average dose rate is 2.3 Gy/s, which is much lower than the example "FLASH" dose such as 40 Gy/s. However, ignoring the dose spilled from each pulse into adjacent spots, each spot in the deepest layer reaches 2 Gy in about 7.8 ms. The dose rate of their spots is 256 Gy/s. When the dose is delivered to the deepest layer, the dose is also delivered to the shallower layer. Therefore, almost every spot in the shallowest layer receives a dose within 865 ms, and as a result, experiences a dose rate lower than 256 Gy/s.

The following example treatment plan excerpts are implemented using tube-by-tube treatment, such as the tube-by-tube treatment described with respect to FIG. 2. If the same treatment volume described in the previous paragraph is reconfigured into 25 tubes instead of 5 layers, where the depth of each tube is 5 spots, then: -The beam delivery starts at t=0 -The spots in layer 1 take 7.8 ms to deliver -It takes 50 ms to switch to the next shallower depth -Layer 2 spot beam delivery starts at 57.8 ms -Layer 3 spot beam delivery starts at 113 ms -Layer 4 spot beam delivery starts at 168.2 ms -This string is completed at 223.4 ms -The treatment was completed at 223.4 ms×25 columns = 5.6 s. Overall, this treatment leads to a longer treatment time, but each tube undergoes a dose rate of 2 Gy/223.4 ms=9 Gy/s. This is a higher dose rate, but under some definitions, this may not be the FLASH dose rate for each part of each string. But assuming that the maximum proton charge per pulse increases, it is possible to reach 10 Gy instead of 2 Gy under the same number of pulses. In this situation, the dose rate used in the layer-by-layer treatment example is as high as 11.5 Gy/s. Under this condition, the dose is delivered to each voxel in the column-by-cylinder treatment example at a rate of 45 Gy/s. In addition, the layer switching time is reduced from 50 ms to 25 ms. In this example, each string in the string delivery took 123.4 ms instead of 223.4 ms. In this example, for each voxel in the treatment volume, the columnar dose rate for lower maximum pulse charge is 16.3 Gy/s, and the columnar dose rate for high maximum pulse charge is 81.5 Gy/s. In most FLASH definitions, a dose rate of 81.5 Gy/s of 123.4 ms is in line with the FLASH dose rate.

Referring to Figure 11, the control system can be configured, for example programmed, to implement a treatment plan for a target such as a tumor in a patient. As explained previously, the treatment plan may specify parameters including the dose of the particle beam to be delivered (e.g., equivalent dose) and the rate at which the dose should be delivered to the voxel in the patient (e.g., ultra-high dose rate or standard dose rate). The treatment plan can also specify the location of the dose to be delivered to the target and the sequence of the portion of the target to be treated. For example, referring to Figures 1 and 2, part of the target can be a pipe string or a layer, as described herein. Initially, the control system can control the particle accelerator, in this example the synchrocyclotron 310, to generate a (1101) particle beam, which has parameters including beam current and intensity. In some embodiments, the beam current of the particle beam is 100 nanoamperes (nA) or less than 100 nanoamperes. In some embodiments, the beam current of the particle beam is 50 nA or less than 50 nA. The level of beam current on the order of nanoamperes can reduce the risk of damaging the patient, reducing the risk of damaging accelerators or other electronic devices in the treatment room, or reducing the risk of both such damage and damage.

It is also possible to control (1102) or adjust the intensity of the particle beam to control or change the dose applied to the target with different particle beam energy. Therefore, intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT) can be delivered using the techniques described herein. In some embodiments, beams of different or the same intensity can be used to treat the same irradiated target from multiple different angles at a FLASH dose rate or at a dose rate lower than the FLASH dose rate. For example, the irradiated target can be treated at FLASH or non-FLASH dose rates by delivering radiation through the tube at different angles. In these examples, because the radiation is delivered at different angles, untreated healthy tissue may only be exposed to radiation once.

The beam intensity is based at least in part on the number of particles in the particle beam. For example, the beam intensity can be defined by the number of particles in the particle beam. The intensity of the particle beam can be changed between the spots of the particle beam. In addition, the intensity of one spot of the particle beam may be independent of the intensity of one or more other spots of the particle beam, and the other spots include adjacent spots. Therefore, in some examples, any spot in the three-dimensional volume can be treated with any dose independent of the dose to one or more adjacent spots. The control system can use one or more techniques to control the intensity of the particle beam.

In the example technique, the intensity of the particle beam can be controlled by varying the duration of the pulse of particles obtained from the plasma column. In more detail, the RF voltage sweeps from the start (e.g., highest) frequency (e.g., 135 megahertz (MHz)) to the end (e.g., minimum) frequency (e.g., 90 MHz). The particle source is activated for a period of time during the RF sweep to generate a plasma column. For example, in some embodiments, the ion source is activated for a period of time at 132 MHz. During that time, the electric field generated by the RF voltage extracts particles from the plasma column. As the RF voltage frequency drops, the particles accelerate outward in the expanding orbit, thereby keeping pace with the decreasing magnetic field and increasing relativistic mass, until the particles are removed after a period of time (for example, about 600 microseconds). Sweep out. Changing the duration of particle source activation will change the pulse width of the particles extracted from the plasma column during the frequency sweep. Increasing the pulse width increases the amount of particles extracted and therefore increases the intensity of the particle beam. Conversely, reducing the pulse width reduces the amount of particles extracted, and therefore the intensity of the particle beam.

In another example technique, the intensity of the particle beam can be controlled by changing the voltage applied to the cathode in the particle source. In this regard, the plasma column is generated by applying voltage to the two cathodes of the particle source and by outputting a gas such as hydrogen (H ₂ ) near the cathodes. The voltage applied to the cathode ionizes hydrogen gas, and the background magnetic field collimates the ionized hydrogen gas to thereby generate a plasma column. Increasing the cathode voltage increases the amount of ions in the plasma column, and decreasing the cathode voltage decreases the amount of ions in the plasma column. When there are more ions in the plasma column, more ions can be extracted during the RF voltage sweep, thereby increasing the intensity of the particle beam. When there are fewer ions in the plasma column, fewer ions can be extracted during the RF voltage sweep, thereby reducing the intensity of the particle beam.

In another example technique, the intensity of the particle beam can be controlled by changing the amount of hydrogen supplied to the particle source. For example, increasing the amount of hydrogen supplied to the particle source will result in a greater chance of ionization in the plasma column in response to the cathode voltage. Conversely, reducing the amount of hydrogen supplied to the particle source will result in a smaller chance of ionization in the plasma column in response to the cathode voltage. As mentioned above, when there are more particles in the plasma column, more particles are extracted during the RF voltage sweep, thereby increasing the intensity of the particle beam. When there are fewer particles in the plasma column, fewer particles can be extracted during the RF voltage sweep, thereby reducing the intensity of the particle beam.

In another example technique, the intensity of the particle beam can be controlled by using the change in the magnitude of the RF voltage to extract the particles from the plasma column. For example, increasing the magnitude of the RF voltage will extract more particles from the plasma column. Conversely, reducing the magnitude of the RF voltage will result in fewer particles being extracted from the plasma column. When more particles are extracted, the particle beam has greater intensity than when fewer particles are extracted.

In another example technique, the intensity of the particle beam can be controlled by changing the start time of the frequency sweep period during which the particle source is activated and thus the particles are extracted. More specifically, there is a finite window during the frequency sweep, during which particles can be extracted from the plasma column. In an example implementation, the frequency sweeps from about 135 MHz to about 90 MHz at a substantially constant rate. In this example, the particles can be extracted approximately between the start frequency and the end frequency, for example, at the beginning of a downward slope between 132 MHz and 131 MHz, and the particle source can be activated for a period of time, for example, about 0.1 micrometers. Seconds (μs) to 100 μs (for example, 1 μs to 10 μs or 1 μs to 40 μs). Changing the frequency of starting the particle source affects the amount of particles extracted from the particle beam and therefore the intensity of the particle beam.

In another example technique, pulse blanking can be used to control the intensity of the particle beam. In this regard, the RF frequency sweep is repeated several times per second (for example, 500 times/second). The particle source can be activated for each frequency sweep (e.g., every 2 ms). Pulse blanking reduces the number of particles extracted from the particle beam by not activating the particle source during each frequency sweep. In order to achieve the maximum beam intensity, the particle source may be activated every frequency sweep. To reduce the beam intensity, the particle source may be activated less frequently, for example, every second, third, hundredth sweep, etc.

In another example technique, the intensity of the particle beam can be controlled by applying a DC bias voltage to one or more D-shaped members used to apply the RF voltage to the cavity of the particle accelerator. In this regard, the particle accelerator includes an active D-shaped plate, which is a hollow metal structure with two semicircular surfaces enclosing a space in which protons are accelerated during their rotation around a cavity enclosed by a yoke. The active dee is driven by the RF signal applied at the end of the RF transmission line to apply an electric field into the space. As the distance between the accelerated particle beam and the geometric center increases, the RF field changes in time. The dummy D-shaped piece may include a rectangular metal wall with grooves spaced apart near the exposed flange of the active D-shaped piece. In some embodiments, the dummy D-shaped piece is connected to a reference voltage at the vacuum chamber and the yoke.

Applying an RF voltage in the presence of a strong magnetic field can generate self-generated secondary electrons (multi-pactoring), which can reduce the magnitude of the RF field and cause electrical shorts under some conditions. To reduce the amount of self-generated secondary electrons and thereby maintain the RF field, a direct current (DC) bias voltage can be applied to the active dee and, in some implementations, also to the dummy dee. In some implementations, the differential DC bias voltage between the active dee and the dummy dee can be controlled to reduce self-generated secondary electrons and thereby increase beam intensity. For example, in some implementations, there may be a 50% difference between the DC bias voltages on the active dee and the dummy dee. In an example implementation, a -1.9 KV DC bias voltage is applied to the dummy dee and a -1.5 KV DC bias voltage is applied to the active dee.

In another example technique, the intensity of the particle beam can be controlled by controlling the rate of sweeping the RF voltage (eg, the slope of decrease). By reducing the slope, it is possible to increase the amount of time during which particles can be extracted from the plasma column. As a result, more particles can be extracted, thereby increasing the intensity of the particle beam. The reverse is also true. For example, by increasing the slope, the amount of time during which particles can be extracted from the plasma column can be reduced, which can lead to a decrease in the intensity of the particle beam.

The implementation of the foregoing technique for controlling the intensity of a particle beam is described in US Patent No. 9,723,705 entitled "Controlling Intensity Of A Particle Beam", the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.

The control system can also control the spot size of the (1103) particle beam. As indicated above, one or more scattering devices can be moved into the path of the particle beam to change the spot size of the particle beam. The motor can be used to control the movement of the scattering device. The motor can respond to commands from the control system based on commands in the treatment plan. In some embodiments, the native spot size of the synchrocyclotron is the smallest spot size produced by the system. Since the beam intensity also varies with the spot size, the spot size also produces the maximum beam intensity. In some embodiments, the spot size that can be generated by the system is less than 2 millimeters (mm) σ. In some embodiments, the spot size that can be generated by the system is at least 2 mm σ. In some embodiments, the spot size that can be generated by the system is between 2 mm σ and 20 mm σ. In some embodiments, the spot size that can be generated by the system is greater than 20 mm σ. In some implementations, operation 1103 may be omitted.

The control system controls (1104) the scanning magnet to move the particle beam to the path 24 through the target 21 according to the treatment plan, for example, as shown in FIG. 2. Controlling the scanning magnet can include controlling the current of the particle beam passing through the coil of the scanning magnet (Figure 6 and Figure 7) in the Cartesian X dimension, and controlling the current of the particle beam passing through the coil of the scanning magnet in the Cartesian Y dimension. Move the electric current, or control both. At that location, the system delivers the ultra-high dose rate of radiation to a tube string that extends along the beam path through the target. In this example, the tube string includes the inner portion of the target positioned along the direction 29 of the particle beam (Figure 2). The pipe string 25 is three-dimensional because it extends radially from the center of the beam spot to the periphery of the spot, and the pipe string extends downward through the target. In some embodiments, the tubing string extends through the entire target, as shown in FIG. 2. In some embodiments, the tubing string extends only partially through the target. In some embodiments, the tubing string is completely inside the target. In some embodiments, the tubing string starts at one surface of the target and extends into the interior of the target, but does not reach the other surface of the target. In some embodiments, portions of adjacent tubing strings overlap.

Use the ultra-high dose rate of radiation to treat the (1105) column. Examples of ultra-high dose rates of radiation are described herein, and include, but are not limited to, 1 gray per second or greater than 1 gray per second and less than 5 s duration. The control system controls the energy of the particle beam when the particle beam is stationary, so that the particle beam treats the tube column in the target. The column in the treatment target involves changing the energy of the particle beam so that for each change in energy, most of the dose of protons in the particle beam (the Bragg peak) is deposited at different depths within the target. As described herein, the energy of the particle beam can be changed by moving the structure made of boron carbide in or out of the path of the particle beam, as shown in the examples of FIGS. 12-19 and 33-42. All or some of the operations in Figure 11 can be repeated to treat different columns on the irradiation target. For example, operations 1102, 1103, 1104, and 1105 can be repeated for each column to be treated on the irradiation target.

In the implementation described below using a variable-energy synchrocyclotron (or other types of variable-energy particle accelerators), the energy of the particle beam can be changed by changing the current through the main coil of the synchrocyclotron. In some embodiments, the energy of the particle beam is changed by moving a structure such as the energy absorbing plate of the range modulator 460 in and out of the path of the particle beam. In this regard, since the treatment plan specifies the position of the pipe string on the target, the energy absorbing plates of the range modulator can be pre-positioned close to their positions, so as to reduce the time it takes for the plates to move in and out of positions. Referring to FIG. 12, for example, before the tube string 501 in the target 503 is treated with radiation, a plate 500 made of pure boron carbide or a boron carbide composite can be positioned close to the tube string 501, for example. The plates can be moved from that part into the particle beam, thereby reducing the distance the plates need to travel. That is, the board 500 can be configured to fully retract into the range modulator. The plates can be partially or fully extended before treatment, and as a result, there is no need to travel from their fully retracted position in order to reach the path of the particle beam.

As mentioned, one or more of the plates can be controlled to move in and out of the path of the particle beam, thereby changing the energy of the particle beam. In an example, each of the one or more plates can move in or out of the path of the particle beam within a duration of 100 ms or less. In an example, each of the one or more plates can move in or out of the path of the particle beam within a duration of 50 ms or less. In an example, each of the one or more plates can move in or out of the path of the particle beam within a duration of 20 ms or less. As previously described, the use of linear motors can promote rapid movement of the plate, but electric motors can also be used. In this example, the fast movement includes a movement of about tens of milliseconds.

One or more of the plates can move in and out of the path of the particle beam based on the sequence defined in the treatment plan. For example, referring to FIG. 12, FIG. 13, FIG. 14, and FIG. 15, the particle beam 504 is positioned by a scanning system to treat the tube string 501 of the target 503 at an ultra-high dose rate. In this example, in order to gradually treat the shallower part of the tube string 501, the treatment is initially performed without a plate in the path of the particle beam. This situation is shown in Figure 12. Therefore, the deepest part 502 of the column 501 is treated. In FIG. 13, the plate 500a travels along the arrow direction 505 into the path of the particle beam 504 to reduce the energy of the particle beam. In this board configuration, the treatment column 501 is the second deep part 506. In FIG. 14, the plate 500b also travels along the arrow direction 505 into the path of the particle beam 504 to further reduce the energy of the particle beam. In this board configuration, the third deep portion 508 of the tubing string 501 is treated. In FIG. 15, the plate 500c also travels along the arrow direction 505 into the path of the particle beam 504 to further reduce the energy of the particle beam. In this board configuration, the shallowest part 510 of the treatment column 501 is treated. By changing the energy of the particle beam 504 when the particle beam 504 is stationary, the entire column 501 can be delivered with ultra-high dose rate radiation. Examples of ultra-high dose rates are provided herein.

The particle beam can be guided by a scanning magnet to a new path through the target to treat different columns of the target 503. Different pipe strings may be adjacent to the pipe string 501 or may not be adjacent to the pipe string 501. In some embodiments, the spots of the beam may partially overlap. For example, referring to FIG. 16, FIG. 17, FIG. 18, and FIG. 19, the particle beam 604 is positioned by the scanning system to treat the tube string 601 of the target 503 at an ultra-high dose rate. In this example, in order to gradually treat the deeper part of the tube string 601, the treatment is initially performed with all the plates 500a, 500b, and 500c in the path of the particle beam. This situation is shown in Figure 16. Therefore, the shallowest part 602 of the tubular string 601 is treated first. In FIG. 17, the plate 500c moves out of the path of the particle beam 604 along the arrow direction 605 to increase the energy of the particle beam. In this board configuration, the second shallow part 602 of the treatment column 601 is treated. In FIG. 18, the plate 500b is also moved out of the path of the particle beam 604 along the arrow direction 605 to further increase the energy of the particle beam. In this board configuration, the third shallow part 608 of the tubing string 601 is treated. In FIG. 19, the plate 500c is also moved out of the path of the particle beam 604 along the arrow direction 605 to further increase the energy of the particle beam. In this board configuration, the deepest part 610 of the pipe string 601 is treated. By changing the energy of the particle beam 604 when the particle beam 604 is stationary, the entire column 601 can be delivered with ultra-high dose rate radiation.

In some embodiments, there is no need to sequence the plates in order to treat the tubing string. For example, the plate 500a may first move in the path of the particle beam, then the plate 500c may move in, and then the plate 500b may move in.

During the delivery of ultra-high dose rate radiation to the column 501 or 601, the intensity of the particle beam 504 or 604 can be changed as necessary to deliver the ultra-high dose rate radiation specified in the treatment plan. Notably, during the delivery of ultra-high dose rate radiation to each tube string, the particle beam is stationary. For example, when delivering ultra-high dose rate radiation to different depths within the pipe string, the path of the particle beam does not change relative to the target and the particle beam does not move. After the ultra-high dose rate radiation is delivered to the tube string, the particle beam is guided on a new path through the target according to the treatment plan. Then the ultra-high dose rate radiation is applied at the new path according to the treatment plan in the same manner as described with respect to FIG. 11. Repeat this procedure until all of the ultra-high dose rate radiotherapy target is used or until the specified part of the ultra-high dose rate radiotherapy target is used. In some embodiments, as shown in the figures, the tubing columns may be parallel, with some overlap in some embodiments. In some embodiments, at least some of the tubing strings may not be parallel, resulting in overlap. In some embodiments, multiple sets of tubing strings can be applied to the same target or microvolume from different angles, thereby treating the target with radiation multiple times while preventing healthy tissue from being affected by the radiation more than once.

In some embodiments, the particle beam is no longer guided along the path that has been used for ultra-high dose rate radiation therapy. For example, the particle beam steps through the target 503 path by path. In this example, the ultra-high-dose rate radiation therapy is used only once for each tube string extending along the path to the target. No longer revisit and treat the tube. By using the ultra-high-dose-rate radiation therapy tube only once, the healthy tissue above the target and in some cases below the target is not susceptible to radiation damage. However, it is worth noting that the example system described herein is not limited to only using ultra-high dose rate radiation therapy once per tube. For example, in some embodiments, each tube string can be revisited any suitable number of times and subjected to one or more additional doses of ultra-high dose rate radiation. In addition, the example system described herein is not limited to using only ultra-high dose rate radiation to treat each column. For example, as described herein, a radiation dose rate that is less than a dose rate that would be considered an ultra-high dose rate can be used to treat the target's tube string. For example, as described herein, a radiation dose rate such as 0.1 Gorays per second can be used to treat the target string for a duration of one minute or more. In some embodiments, column-wise treatment (such as the treatment shown in Figure 2) can be combined with layer-by-layer treatment (such as the treatment shown in Figure 1). For example, the target can be treated layer by column and then layer by column, or the target can be treated layer by layer and then column by column. In some embodiments, using ultra-high-dose-rate radiation or radiation below the ultra-high-dose rate in each situation, portions of the target can be treated column by column and portions of the target can be treated layer by layer.

In some embodiments, the energy absorbing plates of the range modulator can be sequenced differently for different columns on the target in order to reduce the treatment time. For example, for the column 501, the plates can be moved into the particle beam sequentially, as explained in relation to FIGS. 12-15. Then, the particle beam can be guided to treat the vicinity of the target or another column 601. If the plates have covered the other path of the particle beam, they can sequentially move out of the path of the particle beam, as described in relation to FIGS. 16-19. If the plates have not covered the other path of the particle beam, the plates can be moved together to cover the other path of the particle beam, and then move out of the path of the particle beam sequentially. Therefore, for the first pipe string, the plates can be moved sequentially to gradually treat the shallower parts of the first pipe string, such as layers. For the second pipe string adjacent to the first pipe string, the plates can be moved sequentially to continuously treat the deeper parts of the second pipe string, such as layers. This procedure can be repeated throughout the target for the adjacent path of the particle beam. In some implementations, the movement of the plates may be incremental in the beam field; for example, based on spot size (e.g., millimeter level) rather than fully retracted from its position. For example, the plates can be moved from the beam path to the adjacent beam path, rather than being completely retracted and extended for each tube string.

In some embodiments, the energy absorbing plate can move across all or part of the beam field. In some examples, the beam field is the maximum range that the beam can move across a plane parallel to the treatment area on the patient. One or more of the plates can track the particle beam as it moves from the particle beam to the adjacent particle beam. For example, one or more of the plates may move with the movement of the particle beam, so that the particle beam passes through one or more of the plates as the plates move.

In some embodiments, a degrader can be used to apply radiation doses that are less than ultra-high (or FLASH) dose rate radiation to the target layer by layer. The degrader has a structure made of boron carbide, such as a plate, polyhedron, or curved Three-dimensional shape. For example, referring to FIG. 1, a particle beam 12 may be used to treat the entire layer 10 by moving the particle beam across the layer 10 of the target 11 in the arrow direction 15 that has sufficient energy to deliver a dose to that layer. The deenergizer can then be reconfigured, for example, a plate made of boron carbide can be moved out of the beam path to increase the energy level of the particle beam. Then, the layer 16 of the target 11 can be treated in the same manner using particle beams with different energies sufficient to deliver doses to the different layers 16, and so on.

In some embodiments, the FLASH radiation dose can be delivered along a single tube column, where the beam direction is fixed at a single spot at the isocenter of the particle accelerator. In some embodiments, a slightly larger local volume (referred to as a microvolume) can be used to deliver FLASH radiation doses instead of a single spot-specific tube. The microvolume can be a voxel, part of a voxel, or include multiple voxels, as specified in the treatment plan. Figures 33 to 42 show examples of using the FLASH dose rate to deliver radiation to the micro volume of the irradiated target through the column. Examples of FLASH dose rates are described in this article. In some embodiments, the delivery of radiation to the microvolumes of FIGS. 33 to 42 by the tube can be performed at a non-FLASH dose rate or a combination of FLASH dose rate and non-FLASH dose rate.

Figure 33 shows an example of a portion 1400 of an irradiation target such as a tumor in a patient. The portion 1400 is divided into four micro-volumes 1401, 1402, 1403, and 1404. Although the cubic microvolume is shown, the microvolume may have any suitable shape, such as a three-dimensional orthotope, a regular curved shape, or an amorphous shape. In this example, each micro-volume is treated by delivering radiation through the tube in the manner described herein, for example, with respect to FIGS. 12-19. For example, radiation can be used to treat micro-volume column depths by using a degrader plate to change the beam energy or by controlling a variable energy synchrocyclotron to change the beam energy. After an individual microvolume has been treated, the next microvolume is treated, and so on, until the entire irradiation target has been treated. The microvolume treatment can be performed in any suitable order or sequence.

In the examples of FIGS. 33 to 42, only eight pipe strings 1405 are shown. However, any suitable number of tubes can be treated per microvolume. In some instances, 10 to 20 spots and therefore the tubing string can treat a micro volume. In addition, although each spot corresponds to a column of radiation, for the sake of clarity, only the front column is shown in the figures. In addition, although the examples described herein treat microvolumes from the deepest part of the tubing string to the shallowest part of the tubing string, there is no need for this condition. For example, the depressor plate can be controlled to treat a micro volume from the deepest part of the pipe string to the shallowest part of the pipe string, and then treat the adjacent micro volume from the shallowest part of the pipe string to the deepest part of the pipe string , Etc., as described in relation to Figures 12 to 19. In other instances, different tubing depths may not be treated sequentially.

In FIG. 33, the deepest part 1407 of the treatment column 1405 is treated. As usual in this article, shade the treated part of the pipe string and not shade the untreated part. In Figure 34, the next deepest part 1408 of the treatment column 1405 is treated. In FIG. 35, the next deepest part 1409 of the treatment column 1405 is treated. In Figure 36, the next deepest part 1410 of the treatment column 1405 is treated. In FIG. 37, the shallowest part 1411 of the treatment column 1405, thereby completing the treatment of the microvolume 1401. In this regard, although the tubing strings are separated for clarity, as in the case of FIGS. 12-19, the tubing strings may actually overlap at least partially to ensure that the entire micro-volume is treated with radiation.

After treating the micro volume 1401, the next micro volume 1402 is treated in a similar manner. In FIG. 38, the deepest part 1417 of the treatment column 1415 is treated. In FIG. 39, the next deepest part 1418 of the treatment column 1415 is shown. In FIG. 40, the next deepest part 1419 of the treatment column 1415 is shown. In FIG. 41, the next deepest part 1420 of the treatment column 1415 is shown. In FIG. 42, the shallowest part 1421 of the treatment column 1415, thereby completing the treatment of the micro volume 1402. As in the above situation, although the tubing strings are separated for clarity, as in the situation of Figs. 12-19, the tubing strings may actually overlap at least partially to ensure that the entire micro-volume is treated with radiation.

After treating the microvolume 1402, the remaining microvolume can be treated in a similar manner. The micro-volume can be treated in any order or sequence and any suitable number and placement of tubing columns. Furthermore, as described herein, different beam intensities can be used to treat individual tubing strings. These intensities can vary between tubing columns, between microvolumes, or between tubing columns and between microvolumes. In addition, as part of intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT), each micro-volume can be treated from multiple different angles.

In an example, the plots in Figures 43A and 43B show the results of a Monte Carlo simulation. The Monte Carlo simulation calculates the radiation dose delivered to the treatment volume and the time it takes for each voxel in that dose calculation to reach the final dose. In an example, by applying performance modifications to some parameters of the synchrocyclotron (for example, 10 ms or less than 10 ms layer switching time instead of 50 ms layer switching time), the beam current is increased and the pulse-pulse stability is enhanced It can deliver spots delivered on a 3 cm cube on each side when each part of the treatment volume receives its dose in less than 500 ms. These small cubes are not strictly delivered in a column with a single spot per energy layer, but delivered in a micro volume with several (for example, 10 to 20) spots per layer. In addition, direct alignment can be used to isolate one microvolume from another, thereby allowing these volumes to be delivered within a reasonable amount of total treatment time. For example, the configurable collimator described herein or any other suitable collimator device, including a standard multi-leaf collimator (MLC) can be used.

In some embodiments, each microvolume can be treated in the manner described with respect to Figures 12-19. For example, it can treat the entire column in the microvolume, and then continue to move to the next column in the same microvolume. Once all the micro-volume columns have been treated, the treatment continues to the next micro-volume. Here, the treatment is repeated until all the micro-volume columns are treated. The treatment then continues to the next microvolume, and so on, until the entire irradiation target is treated. These embodiments are different from the embodiments of FIGS. 33 to 42. In the embodiments of FIGS. 33 to 42, for each column in the micro volume, the entire depth of each column in the micro volume is treated once Or microlayer. After that, the treatment continues to the next depth, and so on, until all the columns in the microvolume have been treated.

It may be implemented to deliver radiation to all or part of the tubing string as described herein at an ultra-high dose (FLASH) rate, thereby depositing radiation dose in any random manner. For example, referring to FIG. 32, the example string 1299 in the radiation target can be composed of multiple depths. Each depth may include a microlayer of the target, the diameter of which is approximately the diameter of the spot of the particle beam. Using delivery by tubing or radiation as described herein, radiation can be delivered to each of the depths 1301, 1302, and 1303 at an ultra-high dose (FLASH) rate. The dose can be delivered by any means established by the treatment plan. For example, compared to the depth 1301 or 1302, a higher radiation dose can be applied to the depth 1303. In another example, the highest dose can be applied to depth 1303, the next highest dose can be applied to depth 1302, and the lowest dose can be applied to depth 1302. In another example, the highest dose may be applied to depth 1301, the next highest dose may be applied to depth 1303, and the lowest dose may be applied to depth 1302. Therefore, the dose can be applied without considering (for example, independent of) the shape of the Bragg peak generated by summing multiple doses. In other words, under some conditions, the doses may not be configured to obtain a broadened Bragg peak along the column of radiation delivered to the irradiated target at a very high dose (FLASH) rate or at a lower dose rate.

In some implementations, one or more ridge wave filters or range modulator wheels may be added to the path of the particle beam to broaden (eg, extend) the Bragg peak of the particle beam. By using a uniform depth-dose curve, an elongated or broadened Bragg peak is generated. That is, the dose is calibrated based on the depth of the dose to be delivered in the tissue so as to achieve a flat or substantially flat elongated Bragg peak. Referring to FIG. 32, for example, in order to use a broadened Bragg peak such as 1300 by the radiation delivery of the tube string, the full (100%) dose can be applied to the depth 1301 in the tube string 1299 of the irradiated target within a period of time . Next, 80% of the dose can be applied to the depth 1302 over a period of time. The depth 1302 is in the up-beam direction (ie, shallower) than the depth 1301. Next, 66% of the dose can be applied to depth 1303 over a period of time. The depth 1303 is in the reverse beam direction (that is, shallower) than the depth 1302. This process can be repeated until the broadened Bragg peak 1300 is reached.

The motor can control one or more ridge wave filters or range modulator wheels to move in or out of the path of the particle beam. The motor can respond to commands from the control system. The Bragg peak of the broadened particle beam can be used for both columnar treatments as shown in Figs. 12-19 or layer-by-layer treatments as shown in Fig. 1. In some embodiments, when the Bragg peak is broadened, techniques such as those described herein can be used to increase the intensity of the particle beam.

In some embodiments, the range modulator wheel can be automatically controlled to move in two or three dimensions within the beam field in order to track the movement of the particle beam. For example, referring to FIG. 23, the range modulator wheel can be automatically controlled to move in the Cartesian X dimension 918 and Z dimension 917 in the path of the particle beam. The range modulator wheel can have a varying thickness and can spin to change the Bragg peak of the particle beam, and thus change the depth at which most particles are deposited in the target. In some embodiments, the range modulator wheel may include steps defining various thicknesses thereof. In some embodiments, the intensity of the particle beam can be controlled to control the dose delivered at each location on the range modulator wheel. This can be done to control the depth dose distribution.

As explained above, in some embodiments, the scanning system does not include a configurable collimator. For example, in a system that includes boron carbide in the degrader, the spot size can be small enough and accurate to eliminate the need for a configurable collimator. However, in some embodiments, the scanning system does include a configurable collimator. The configurable collimator can be controlled by the control system to trim the particle beam before it reaches the irradiation target. As also explained, the configurable collimator can be controlled to modify the stationary particle beam differently when the energy of the stationary particle beam changes to treat different parts of the tube string in the target, such as depth. More specifically, the cross-sectional area of the particle beam, in other words, the spot size of the particle beam, can be changed when the particle beam passes through different amounts of tissue. In order to ensure that the size of the particle beam and therefore the radius of the treated tube string remains the same over the entire length of the tube string, the configuration of the collimator can be changed to provide different amounts of trimming. In other words, the configuration of the configurable collimator can be changed in response to changes in the energy of the particle beam. That is, because beams of different energies penetrate different amounts of tissue, their beams can undergo different amounts of dispersion, and therefore may require different amounts of collimation to produce regular-shaped tubular columns, such as those with a constant radius. Cylindrical shape pipe string.

In some embodiments, the configurable collimator usually contains a flat structure, which is called a "plate" or "blade" and can be controlled to move the incident beam or treatment area, thereby blocking some radiation from passing through and allowing others to pass. . As explained above, there may be two sets of blades facing each other. The leaf set can be controlled to produce an opening with a size and shape suitable for treatment. For example, each set of blades can be configured to define an edge that can move into the path of the particle beam so that the first part of the particle beam on the first side of the edge is blocked by the blades, and the edge The second part of the particle beam on both sides is not blocked by the blades and is allowed to pass to the treatment area. In some embodiments, the blades are connected to linear motors, are part of the linear motors or include linear motors, one linear motor for each blade, and the linear motors can be controlled to control the movement of the blades toward or away from the treatment area to define the edges.

In some implementations, the linear motor can be controlled to configure one set of blades to define a first edge, and another set of blades to define a second edge facing the first edge. The configuration of the linear motor used with the configurable collimator can be similar or identical to the linear motor used with the range modulator board described in relation to FIG. 10. For example, each of the linear motors may include movable components and stationary components. The stationary component includes a magnetic field generator for generating a first magnetic field. An example of a magnetic field generator includes two stationary magnets that are adjacent and spaced apart and whose poles are aligned. The movable component includes one or more coils to conduct current to generate a second magnetic field that interacts with the first magnetic field to move the movable component relative to the stationary component. For example, the movable component may be a coil carrier plate between two magnets constituting a stationary component. When an electric current passes through the coil, that electric current generates a magnetic field that interacts with the magnetic fields generated by the two magnets and moves the movable component (for example, a current carrier) relative to the two magnets. Because the blade is attached to the movable component, the blade moves with the movable component. The linear motors of different blades can be controlled to control the movement of the blades, and thus define the edge of the configurable collimator described above.

As mentioned, in some embodiments, the linear motor includes: two magnets, which are adjacent and spaced apart and whose poles are aligned; and a coil carrier plate, which is sandwiched between and opposite to the two magnets. mobile. This configuration allows multiple linear motors to be arranged in a row, each linear motor being very close to the next linear motor, as required for controlling the blades of the configurable collimator. For example, in some embodiments, the thickness of the blade is about a few millimeters (eg, five millimeters or less). A blade of this thickness achieves a relatively high-precision edge; however, a blade of this thickness can make the implementation of the conventional motor impractical in some situations. However, the linear motor described herein enables the use of blades with a thickness of this magnitude. For example, two stationary magnets shield the coil carrier plate moving between them, thereby controlling the movement of the blades. By shielding the coil carrier board from the influence of stray magnetic fields, it is possible to control the movement of the board even when multiple coil carrier boards and corresponding stationary magnets are very close to each other.

In some implementations, a control system, which can be composed of one or more processing devices, is programmed to control a linear motor to thereby control the positioning of the blades to define the edge. For example, the control system may be controllable to output one or more control signals to control one or more of the linear motors to extend or retract one or more of the blades, thereby defining edges. In some implementations, an encoder can be used to track the movement of a linear motor. In some examples, the encoder includes electronics connected to the same assembly as the vane and linear motor. The encoder may include one or more of a laser sensor, an optical sensor, or a diode sensor. The encoder detects the movement of the blade, for example, by detecting where the blade or a mark or other mark on a structure that is connected to the blade and moves with the blade is located relative to the encoder. Information about the position of the blade is fed back to the control system and used by the control system to confirm the position of the blade during operation and, in some implementations, to change its position. The encoder can be or include a simple electronic sensor, which is less sensitive to neutron radiation than the above processing device and can therefore be located in the treatment room.

As mentioned previously, some implementations may not include a configurable collimator. In example implementations such as these, the particle beam passes through the deenergizer and is delivered to the patient without subsequent adjustments such as alignment. For example, in embodiments in which structures such as plates, polyhedrons, or curved three-dimensional shapes include boron carbide, the spot size of the beam can be reduced relative to the spot size of the beam produced using other materials in the degrader. Under such conditions, additional direct alignment may not be required to achieve the spot resolution required for the therapeutic irradiation target. As mentioned, in some embodiments, the configurable collimator can be between the deenergizer and the patient. An example implementation of a configurable collimator that can be used is described in relation to FIGS. 20-25.

Figure 20 shows an example of a blade 740 that can be used in a configurable collimator, but the configurable collimator is not limited to use with this type of blade. The height 750 of the blade is along the beam line (for example, the direction of the particle beam). The length 752 of the blade is along its actuation direction into and out of the treatment area and is based on the size or part of the field that the system can treat. The field size corresponds to the treatment area that the beam can affect. The width 753 of the blade is the direction along which the plurality of blades are stacked when actuated. Generally speaking, the more blades used, the higher the resolution of voids (including those used for curved boundaries).

In FIG. 20, the blade 740 includes tongue and groove features 755 along its sides, which are configured to reduce leakage between blades when multiple such blades are stacked. In this example, the curved end 756 of the blade 740 is configured to maintain a surface tangent to the beam at all locations in the treatment area. However, the end of each blade can be flat without bending.

In some embodiments, the configurable collimator blade has a height sufficient to block at least the maximum beam energy (eg, the maximum energy of the particle beam output by the accelerator). In some embodiments, the configurable collimator blade has a height that blocks less than the maximum beam energy. In some embodiments, the length of the configurable collimator blade is not defined by the area of the entire treatment area, but by the area of a single beam spot (the cross-sectional area of the particle beam) or the area of multiple beam spots.

Figure 21 shows an example implementation of part of a configurable collimator 800. The configurable collimator 800 includes blades 801. The height of the blades and the materials made of nickel, brass, tungsten or other metals are sufficient to suppress or prevent the passage of radiation at a given energy. For example, in some systems, the particle accelerator is configured to generate a particle beam with a maximum energy of 100 million electron volts (MeV) to 300 MeV. Therefore, in such systems, the blades can be constructed to prevent beams having energies of 100 MeV, 150 MeV, 200 MeV, 250 MeV, 300 MeV, etc., from passing. For example, in some systems, the particle accelerator is configured to generate a particle beam with a maximum energy exceeding 70 MeV. Therefore, in such systems, the blades can be constructed to prevent beams having energy of 70 MeV or more from passing through.

The blade 801 is mounted on the cradle to control its movement relative to the treatment area of the irradiation target (such as the cross-sectional layer of the tumor in the patient). The movement is controlled so that the blade 801 covers some parts of the treatment area 804, thereby preventing radiation from affecting them during the treatment, while exposing other parts of the treatment area to the radiation. In the example implementation of Figure 21, there are a total of fourteen blades, seven on the left and seven on the right. In some embodiments, there may be a different number of leaves, for example, ten in total, five on the left and five on the right; twelve in total, six on the left and six on the right; and so on.

In Fig. 21, the location 802 represents the center of the beam spot and therefore represents the location of the pipe string in the target to be delivered with radiation. The circle 808 represents the part of the treatment boundary, beyond which the radiation is not intended to be delivered. Beam spots close to this boundary (for example, within one standard deviation of the profile of the particle beam) border healthy tissue. These spots can be trimmed (ie, blocked) by the proper configuration and placement of the blades on the configurable collimator. An example of a beam spot to be trimmed is beam spot 811, the center of which is at location 806. As shown, the blade 801 is configured to block the portion of the beam spot 811 that extends beyond the circle 808 and into healthy tissue (or at least tissue that is not specified for treatment).

In the example embodiment, on each of the two separate brackets, there are five blades with a width of about 5 mm and two blades with a width of about 80 mm. In some embodiments, on each of the two separate brackets, there are seven blades, two of which each have a width three times or more than the width of each of the five other blades. Times the width. Other implementations may contain different numbers, sizes and configurations of blades and different numbers and configurations of brackets. For example, some embodiments may include any number of blades between five and fifty per carrier, such as 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49 or 50 leaves (or more than 50 leaves).

The carriages can move in both horizontal and vertical directions, as described herein. The blade can also be moved in and out of the treatment area horizontally relative to each bracket. In this way, the blade can be configured to approximate the shape of the treatment boundary in the area near the area being treated (eg, circle 808 or a portion thereof in this example).

The blade can be moved vertically and/or horizontally between the different tubing strings to be treated, so that when the beam is delivered to a specific tubing string, the blades are in position. As mentioned, the blades can be reconfigured based on the beam energy when the beam is stationary, thereby providing different configurations for different beam energy. As explained, the beam can be slightly dispersed in the tissue. The configurable collimator can be reconfigured when the beam energy changes to maintain a regular (for example, cylindrical) shaped column.

Figures 22, 23, and 24 show example implementations of a configurable collimator, which includes a configuration configured to hold and move in both vertical and horizontal directions relative to the treatment target. The blade brackets 913, 914, 915 are described. As shown, vertical movement includes movement in the Cartesian Z dimension 917, and horizontal movement includes movement in the Cartesian X dimension 918 (where the Cartesian Y dimension is entering or leaving the page of FIG. 23). Figures 23 and 24 show parts of the bracket housing as transparent in order to show the components inside the housing; however, the housings are not actually transparent.

The bracket 913 is referred to herein as the primary bracket, and the brackets 914 and 915 are referred to herein as the secondary bracket. The secondary brackets 914, 915 are coupled to the primary bracket 913, as shown in FIGS. 22-24. In this example, the secondary brackets 914, 915 each include a housing fixed to the primary bracket 915 via corresponding parts 918, 919. In this example, the main carriage 913 can move vertically (Z dimension) along the guide rail 920 relative to the irradiation target and relative to the particle accelerator. The vertical movement of the primary bracket 913 also causes the secondary bracket to move vertically. In some embodiments, the secondary carriages move vertically in unison. In some embodiments, each vertical movement of the secondary carriage is independent of the vertical movement of another secondary carriage.

As shown in Figures 22-24, each time the brackets 914, 915 are connected to the corresponding rods or rails 922, 923, the secondary brackets move along the rods or rails. More specifically, in this example, the motor 925 drives the secondary carriage 914 to move toward or away from the secondary carriage 915 along the rod 922. Likewise, in this example, the motor 926 drives the secondary carriage 915 to move toward or away from the secondary carriage 914 along the rod 923. The control of the movement of the primary carriage and the secondary carriage is implemented to position the blade relative to the irradiation target, as described herein. In addition, the blades themselves are also configured to move in and out of the carrier, as described herein.

As shown in FIG. 24, the motor 930 drives the vertical movement of the main carriage 913. For example, as shown in FIG. 24, the lead screw 931 is coupled to the housing 932, which holds and drives the motors 925, 926 corresponding to the secondary brackets 914, 915 and is mounted on the guide rail 920. The lead screw 931 is coupled to the motor 930 and is vertically driven by the motor. That is, the motor 930 drives the lead screw 931 vertically (Cartesian Z dimension). Because the lead screw 931 is fixed to the housing 932, this movement also moves the housing 932 and therefore the secondary brackets 914, 915 along the guide rail 920 toward or away from the irradiation target.

In this example embodiment, as mentioned, seven blades 935, 936 are mounted on each bracket 914, 915. Each time the bracket can be configured to move its blade horizontally into or out of the treatment area. The individual blades on each bracket can be moved independently and linearly in the X dimension using a linear motor relative to other blades on the same bracket. In some implementations, the blades can also be configured to move in the Y dimension. In addition, the blades on one secondary bracket 914 can be movable independently of the blades on the other secondary bracket 915. This independent movement of the blades on the secondary carriage, together with the vertical movement achieved by the primary carriage, allows the blades to be moved into various configurations. As a result, the blade can fit the treatment area arbitrarily shaped in both the horizontal and vertical dimensions in both the horizontal and vertical directions. The size and shape of the leaves can be changed to produce different configurations. For example, the size and shape can be changed to treat a single beam spot and therefore a single tube string. In some implementations, the individual blades on each bracket can be moved independently and linearly using electric motors that drive the lead screw in the X dimension relative to other blades on the same bracket. .

The blades can be made of any suitable material that prevents or inhibits radiation transmission. The type of radiation used can dictate what material(s) are used in the blade. For example, if the radiation is X-rays, the blades can be made of lead. In the examples described herein, the radiation is a proton beam or an ion beam. Therefore, different types of metals or other materials can be used for blades. For example, the blade may be made of nickel, tungsten, lead, brass, steel, iron, or any suitable combination thereof. The height of each blade can determine the extent to which the blade inhibits radiation transmission.

In some embodiments, the blades may have the same height, while in other embodiments, some of the blades may have a height that is different from the height of the other of the blades. For example, the height of a set of blades may each be 5 mm. However, any suitable height can be used. For example, the blades 935, 936 may have any of the following heights (or other heights): 1 mm, 2 mm, 3 mm, 4 mm, 5 mm, 6 mm, 7 mm, 8 mm, 9 mm, 10 mm, 11 mm, 12 mm, 13 mm, 14 mm, 15 mm, 16 mm, 17 mm, 18 mm, 19 mm, 20 mm, 21 mm, 22 mm, 23 mm, 24 mm, 25 mm, 26 mm , 27 mm, 28 mm, 29 mm, etc. The blades can have any combination of the aforementioned heights. In addition, each of the blades may have a height that is different from one or more of the others.

In some embodiments, the height of the blade is not only sufficient to completely block the particle beam at the maximum expected proton energy (for example, 3.3 cm of tungsten at 230 MeV, or for example 5.2 cm of nickel), but also sufficient additional material to prevent the blade Proton transfer between. This material can have a tongue and groove structure as shown in Figure 20, or a similar configuration. The tip of the blade can be configured to include curved or tapered surfaces to enhance the delivery penumbra of various diverging proton beams.

In some implementations, there may be more than one main bracket and corresponding motors and rails. For example, the first main bracket can control the vertical movement of the first secondary bracket, and the second main bracket can control the vertical movement of the second secondary bracket. Therefore, in these embodiments, the two secondary carriages can move independently in the vertical dimension as needed. In any situation, the main bracket can be controlled by a computer. For example, executable instructions are stored in computer memory (for example, one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media) and executed by one or more processing devices to control movement. During treatment, control can be performed with or without user input.

As explained, each time the carriages 914, 915 include corresponding motors to control the horizontal carriage movement, as described above. In some embodiments, all blades on a single carriage can be moved independently using linear motors, with one linear motor controlling each blade. Each blade can be controlled by a linear motor of the type described in FIG. 10 to produce edges, thereby blocking at least some of the radiation from reaching the patient, for example to trim one or more spots produced by the particle beam. As mentioned, the linear motor used in the configurable collimator can have the same structure and function as the linear motor used with the range modulator. However, in this situation, the collimator blade is attached to the linear motor instead of the energy absorption plate. Each linear motor linearly drives its corresponding blade to reach its position in the configured edge.

In the example implementation described above, separate and independently controllable linear motors are used to independently actuate each blade so that any appropriate shape can be tracked by the blade configuration. However, this flexibility may not be needed to achieve acceptable edge shape retention. The blades can be mechanically constrained, and only a limited number of configurations can be achieved. For example, the blade may be limited to placing it in a vertical line, a front diagonal shape, a back diagonal shape, a concave shape, a convex shape, or any other achievable shape. In this way, flexibility can be traded for mechanical simplicity.

In some cases, better beam performance (penumbra or edge sharpness) is obtained when the particle beam is tangent to the surface of the blade edge. However, because the beam effectively originates from a single point source, the angle at which the beam passes through the plane of the configurable collimator changes as the beam moves away from the center of the field. For this reason, the blade may have a curved edge, as shown in FIG. 20, so that the edge can always be placed at a position that makes it tangent to the particle beam. In the example implementation of the configurable collimator, the guide rails on which both the primary and secondary carriages move are bent so that a flat blade edge can be used instead of the curved blade edge, and the blade edge is flat but maintained The particle beam is tangent.

In summary, in some implementations, due at least in part to the linear motors described herein, the configurable collimator may have a relatively small size. Therefore, compared to the standard multi-leaf collimator, the example configurable collimator can be used to trim a part of the treatment area at one time, such as smaller than the entire treatment area and approximately equal to one spot size, two spot sizes, and three spots. Areas of spot size, four spot size, five spot size, etc. Therefore, in some implementations, the configurable collimator can be small enough to trim a single set point at a time, and large enough to trim several spots in one location, but cannot trim the entire field without moving. As mentioned, the ability to trim a single spot can be used to maintain the regular shape of the treatment tube, because the energy of the particle beam used to generate the other tube changes.

The scanning system can include the configurable collimator described herein, which can be placed relative to the irradiation target to limit the range of the particle beam. For example, a configurable collimator can be placed in the beam path in the down-beam direction of the degrader and before the treatment area of the target is irradiated by the particle beam. The configurable collimator can be controlled by the control system and according to the treatment plan to allow the particle beam to pass through and then hit certain parts of the treatment area, while preventing the particle beam from hitting other parts of the patient. Figure 25 depicts the placement of an embodiment of the configurable collimator 970 relative to the patient 971. The beam direction 971a is also shown.

An example of a configurable collimator that can be used is described in US Patent Publication No. 2017/0128746 entitled "Adaptive Aperture", the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.

Figures 26 and 27 show parts of an example of a proton therapy system 1082 that includes a particle accelerator mounted on a gantry. Because the accelerator is installed on the gantry, it is in or adjacent to the treatment room. The particle accelerator may be the synchrocyclotron of FIG. 3; however, the system is not limited to use with the synchrocyclotron. The gantry and the particle accelerator can be controlled together with the scanning system according to the treatment plan, so as to use the ultra-high dose rate radiation therapy to irradiate the target tube in the manner described herein. In some embodiments, the gantry is rigid and has two feet (not shown) mounted for rotation on two separate bearings on opposite sides of the patient. The gantry may include a steel truss (not shown) connected to each of its legs, which is long enough to span the treatment area where the patient is located and attached to the rotating legs of the gantry at both ends . The particle accelerator can be supported by steel trusses to move around the patient.

In the example of FIGS. 26 and 27, the patient is on the treatment couch 1084. In this example, the treatment bed 1084 includes a platform that supports the patient. The platform may also include one or more restraining devices (not shown) for holding the patient in place and for keeping the patient substantially immobile during bed movement and during treatment. The platform may be filled or may not be filled and/or have a shape corresponding to the shape of the part of the patient (for example, a dimple). The bed can be moved via the arm 1085.

FIG. 28 shows an example of the gantry configuration described in US Patent No. 7,728,311, which is incorporated herein by reference, and includes components of an alternative embodiment of a proton therapy system that can be used as described herein The described method uses ultra-high dose rate radiation therapy to irradiate the target tube. The example proton therapy system of FIG. 28 includes an internal gantry 1190 with a nozzle 1191, a treatment bed 1192, and a particle accelerator 1193 (for example, a synchrocyclotron of the type described herein), the particle accelerator being installed on the external gantry The rack 1194 is used to at least partially rotate around the patient to deliver radiation to the target(s) in the patient. The treatment couch 1192 can be controlled according to the treatment plan and configured to rotate and translate the patient in the manner described herein.

In the example of FIG. 28, the particle accelerator 1193 is also installed on the external stage 1194, which also enables the particle accelerator to perform linear movement (for example, translational movement) in the arrow direction 1195 along the arm 1196. As also shown in Figure 28, the particle accelerator 1193 may be connected to a gimbal 1199 for pivotal movement relative to the stage. This pivoting movement can be used to position the accelerator and therefore the beam for treatment.

The components of the scanning system including the scanning magnet, ion chamber, range modulator, and configurable collimator can be installed on the nozzles 1081 and 1191 of the internal stand of the proton therapy system, installed in the nozzles or coupled to The nozzle. These components can be controlled by the control system according to the treatment plan to use ultra-high dose rate radiation therapy to irradiate the target tube. In two examples, the nozzle can move relative to the patient and the particle accelerator along the guide rails of the internal gantry (1080 or 1190), and can extend toward the patient or retract away from the patient, thereby also extending and retracting mounted on it On the component.

In some embodiments, the synchrocyclotron used in the proton therapy system described herein may be a variable energy synchrocyclotron. In some embodiments, the variable energy synchrocyclotron is configured to change the energy of the output particle beam by changing the magnetic field in which the particle beam is accelerated. For example, the current can be set to any one of multiple values to generate the corresponding magnetic field. In an example embodiment, one or more sets of superconducting coils receive a variable current to generate a variable magnetic field in the cavity. In some instances, one set of coils receives a fixed current and one or more other sets of coils receive a variable current such that the total current received by the set of coils changes. In some embodiments, all collections of coils are superconducting. In some embodiments, some sets of coils (such as the set for a fixed current) are superconducting coils, while other sets of coils (such as one or more sets for variable current) are non-superconducting ( For example, copper) coils.

Generally speaking, in a variable energy synchrocyclotron, the magnitude of the magnetic field can be adjusted proportionally with the magnitude of the current. Adjusting the total current of the coil within a predetermined range can generate a magnetic field that changes within the corresponding predetermined range. In some instances, continuous adjustment of the current can result in continuous changes in the magnetic field and continuous changes in the output beam energy. Alternatively, when the current applied to the coil is adjusted in a discontinuous stepwise manner, the magnetic field and the output beam energy also change in a discontinuous (stepwise) manner accordingly. Adjusting the magnetic field proportionally to the current allows the beam energy to change relatively accurately, thereby reducing the need for energy degraders. An example of a variable energy synchronous cyclotron that can be used in the particle therapy system described herein is described in US Patent No. 9,730,308 entitled "Particle Accelerator That Produces Charged Particles Having Variable Energies", the contents of which are incorporated by reference The method is incorporated into this article.

In the implementation of the particle therapy system using a variable energy synchrocyclotron, controlling the energy of the particle beam to treat the target tube can be performed according to the treatment plan by changing the energy of the particle beam output by the synchrocyclotron. In these embodiments, the range modulator may or may not be used. For example, controlling the energy of the particle beam may include setting the current in the main coil of the synchrocyclotron to one of multiple values, each value corresponding to a different energy of the particle beam output from the synchrocyclotron. A range modulator may be used in conjunction with a variable energy synchrocyclotron to provide additional energy changes between discrete energy levels provided by the synchrocyclotron, for example.

In some embodiments, particle accelerators other than synchrocyclotrons can be used in the particle therapy system described herein. For example, a cyclotron, a synchrotron, a linear accelerator, or the like can replace the synchrocyclotron described herein. Although a rotating gantry (eg, an external gantry) has been described, the example particle therapy systems described herein are not limited to use with a rotating gantry. To be precise, the particle accelerator can be installed on any type of robot or other controllable mechanism (also defined as a gantry type in this article) when appropriate to implement the movement of the particle accelerator. For example, a particle accelerator can be installed on one or more robotic arms to implement the rotation, pivoting and/or translational movement of the accelerator relative to the patient. In some embodiments, the particle accelerator can be installed on a rail and movement along the rail can be controlled by a computer. In this configuration, the rotation and/or translation and/or pivoting movement of the accelerator relative to the patient can also be achieved through appropriate computer control. In some embodiments, the particle accelerator may be stationary and located outside the treatment room, where the beam is delivered to a nozzle in the treatment room.

In some instances, as mentioned above, the ultra-high dose rate of radiation may include a radiation dose exceeding 1 gray per second in a duration of less than 500 ms. In some examples, the ultra-high dose rate of radiation may include a radiation dose exceeding 1 gray per second for a duration between 10 ms and 5 s. In some instances, the ultra-high dose rate of radiation may include a radiation dose exceeding 1 gray per second in a duration of less than 5 s.

In some instances, the ultra-high dose rate of radiation includes a radiation dose exceeding one of the following doses in a duration of less than 500 ms: 2 grays per second, 3 grays per second, 4 grays per second, 5 grays per second, 6 grays per second, 7 grays per second, 8 grays per second, 9 grays per second, 10 grays per second, 11 grays per second, 12 grays per second, 12 grays per second 13 gray, 14 gray per second, 15 gray per second, 16 gray per second, 17 gray per second, 18 gray per second, 19 gray per second, 20 gray per second, 30 gray per second Mine, 40 grays per second, 50 grays per second, 60 grays per second, 70 grays per second, 80 grays per second, 90 grays per second or 100 grays per second. In some examples, the ultra-high dose rate of radiation includes a radiation dose exceeding one of the following doses within a duration between 10 ms and 5 s: 2 grays per second, 3 grays per second, 4 grays per second, 5 grays per second, 6 grays per second, 7 grays per second, 8 grays per second, 9 grays per second, 10 grays per second, 11 grays per second, 12 grays per second Gray, 13 gray per second, 14 gray per second, 15 gray per second, 16 gray per second, 17 gray per second, 18 gray per second, 19 gray per second, 20 gray per second , 30 grays per second, 40 grays per second, 50 grays per second, 60 grays per second, 70 grays per second, 80 grays per second, 90 grays per second or 100 grays per second. In some instances, the ultra-high dose rate of radiation includes a radiation dose exceeding one of the following doses in a duration of less than 5 s: 2 grays per second, 3 grays per second, 4 grays per second, 5 grays per second, 6 grays per second, 7 grays per second, 8 grays per second, 9 grays per second, 10 grays per second, 11 grays per second, 12 grays per second, 12 grays per second 13 grays, 14 grays per second, 15 grays per second, 16 grays per second, 17 grays per second, 18 grays per second, 19 grays per second, 20 grays per second, 30 grays per second Mine, 40 grays per second, 50 grays per second, 60 grays per second, 70 grays per second, 80 grays per second, 90 grays per second or 100 grays per second.

In some examples, the ultra-high dose rate of radiation includes exceeding one of the following doses within a duration of less than 500 ms, within a duration between 10 ms and 5 s, or within a duration of less than 5 s The radiation dose of one or more: 100 gore per second, 200 gore per second, 300 gore per second, 400 gore per second or 500 gore per second.

In some examples, the ultra-high dose rate of radiation includes a radiation dose between 20 Gy per second and 100 Gy per second in a duration of less than 500 ms. In some examples, the ultra-high dose rate of radiation includes a radiation dose between 20 grays per second and 100 grays per second for a duration between 10 ms and 5 s. In some instances, the ultra-high dose rate of radiation includes a radiation dose between 20 Gy per second and 100 Gy per second in a duration of less than 5 s. In some examples, the ultra-high dose rate of radiation includes a radiation dose between 40 Gy per second and 120 Gy per second for a period of time such as less than 5 s. Other examples of this period of time are their examples provided above.

The operation of the example proton therapy system described herein and the operation of all or some of its components may at least partially use one or more computer program products (eg, tangibly embodied in one or more non-transitory machine-readable media One or more computer programs) control (where appropriate) for the execution or control of one or more data processing devices (for example, programmable processors, one or more computers, and/or programmable logic components) The operation of the one or more data processing equipment.

A computer program can include any form of programming language written in a compiled or interpreted language, and it can be deployed in any form, including as a stand-alone program or as a module, component, subroutine or other unit suitable for a computing environment . Computer programs can be deployed to be executed on one computer or on multiple computers at one site or distributed across multiple sites and interconnected by a network.

The actions associated with controlling all or part of the operation of the example proton therapy system described herein can be executed by executing one or more computer programs or one or more programmable processors to perform the operations described herein Features. A dedicated logic circuit system such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA) and/or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) can be used to control all or part of the operation.

As an example, processors suitable for executing computer programs include both general-purpose microprocessors and special-purpose microprocessors, and any one or more processors of any kind of digital computer. Generally speaking, the processor will receive commands and data from a read-only storage area or a random access storage area or both. The components of a computer (including a server) include one or more processors for executing instructions and one or more storage area devices for storing instructions and data. Generally speaking, a computer will also include one or more machine-readable storage media for storing data, such as magnetic disks, magneto-optical discs, or optical discs, or be operatively coupled to the one or more machine-readable storage media, To receive data from these machine-readable storage media, or transmit data to these machine-readable storage media, or both receive data and transmit data. Non-transitory machine-readable storage media suitable for storing computer program instructions and data include all forms of non-volatile storage areas, as examples, including semiconductor storage area devices such as EPROM, EEPROM and flash storage area devices; magnetic disks, Such as internal hard disks or removable disks; magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks.

Any more than two of the foregoing embodiments can be used in appropriate combination with an appropriate particle accelerator (for example, a synchrocyclotron). Likewise, the individual features of any more than two of the foregoing embodiments can be used in appropriate combination. Components can be omitted from the programs, systems, devices, etc. described in this document without adversely affecting their operations. Various separate elements can be combined into one or more individual elements to perform the functions described herein.

10: layer 11: target 12: Particle beam 15: Arrow direction 16: layer 20: pipe string 21: Target 22: Particle beam 24: path 25: pipe string 28: Arrow direction 29: Arrow direction 101: Energy absorption board 102: Energy absorption board 103: Energy absorption board 106: Ellipse point 109: Coil carrying plate 110a: Magnet 110b: Magnet 111: arrow direction 114: Computing System 116: remote room 117: Treatment Room 310: Components/Synchronous Cyclotron 311: Superconducting magnet 312: Superconducting coil 313: Superconducting coil 314: Ferromagnetic Yoke 315: Ferromagnetic Yoke 316: Cavity 317: Particle Source 420: extraction channel 421: Synchronous cyclotron 422: Scanning component 424: Scan Magnet 425: Ion Chamber 426: Degrader 427: Current Sensor 428: Configurable collimator 441: Coil 442: Coil 460: Range Modulator 461: board 464: Motor 470: board 472: Arrow Direction 473: Particle Beam 500: Board 500a: board 500b: board 500c: board 501: String 502: deepest part 503: target 504: Particle Beam 505: Arrow direction 506: second deep part 508: The third deep part 510: shallowest part 601: pipe string 602: the shallowest part/secondary shallow part 604: Particle Beam 605: arrow direction 608: The third shallow part 610: deepest part 740: Blade 750: height 752: length 753: width 755: Tongue and Groove Features 756: curved end 800: Configurable collimator 801: Blade 802: position 804: treatment area 806: position 808: circle 811: Beam Point 913: main bracket 914: secondary bay 915: secondary bay 917: Descartes Z dimension 918: Descartes X dimension/part 919: Parts 920: Rail 922: Rod or Rail 923: Rod or Rail 925: Motor 926: Motor 930: Motor 931: Lead screw 932: shell 935: blade 936: blade 970: Configurable collimator 971: patient 971a: beam direction 1080: Internal stand 1081: nozzle 1082: Proton Therapy System 1084: treatment bed 1085: arm 1101: Step 1102: Operation 1103: Operation 1104: Operation 1105: Operation 1190: internal stand 1191: nozzle 1192: treatment bed 1193: particle accelerator 1194: External stand 1195: Arrow direction 1196: arm 1199: Balance frame 1200: Treatment Planning System 1201: Predictive model 1202: RBE model 1203: Dose calculation engine 1204: Sequencer 1205: voxel 1206: Voxel 1207: Voxel 1208: Voxel 1299: pipe string 1300: Broadened Bragg Peak 1301: depth 1302: depth 1303: depth 1400: Part of the irradiated target 1401: micro volume 1402: micro volume 1403: micro volume 1404: Micro volume 1405: pipe string 1407: the deepest part 1408: The next deepest part 1409: The next deepest part 1410: The next deepest part 1411: the shallowest part 1415: pipe string 1417: the deepest part 1418: The next deepest part 1419: The next deepest part 1420: The next deepest part 1421: the shallowest part

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an example irradiation target for treatment by sequentially scanning a particle beam across the entire layer.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a target treated by scanning the particle beam column by column across the example irradiation target.

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of an example particle accelerator that can be used in the particle therapy system described herein.

Figure 4 is a side view of the components of an example scanning system that can be used in the particle therapy system described herein.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the components of an example scanning system that can be used in the particle therapy system described herein.

Figure 6 is a front view of an example magnet for use in a scanning system of the type shown in Figures 4 and 5.

Figure 7 is a perspective view of an example magnet for use in a scanning system of the type shown in Figures 4 and 5.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of an example degrader (range modulator) for use in a scanning system of the type shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the procedure for moving the plate of the energy degrader into and out of the path of the particle beam.

Figure 10 is a block diagram of an example linear motor and an example board of a degrader controlled thereby.

Fig. 11 is a flowchart showing an example procedure for treating a target by scanning a particle beam across the irradiation target by column by column.

12, 13, FIG. 14, and FIG. 15 are perspective block diagrams illustrating the treatment of the tube string of the irradiation target by sequentially moving the energy absorbing plate into the path of the stationary particle beam.

Figures 16, Figure 17, Figure 18, and Figure 19 are perspective block diagrams illustrating the treatment of the irradiated target tube string by sequentially moving the energy absorbing plate out of the path of the stationary particle beam.

Figure 20 is a perspective view of an example configurable collimator blade that can be used for the example configurable collimator described herein.

Figure 21 is a top view of a configurable collimator blade positioned relative to the treatment area of the irradiation target.

Figure 22 is a perspective view of an example configurable collimator.

Figure 23 is a front view of an example configurable collimator.

Figure 24 is a perspective view of an example configurable collimator, which has components depicted in perspective to show its interior.

Figure 25 is a perspective view of an example configurable collimator positioned relative to the patient during particle therapy treatment.

Figures 26 and 27 are respectively a front view and a perspective view of an example particle therapy system.

Figure 28 is a perspective view of an example particle therapy system.

Figure 29 is a graph showing changes in particle beam spot size for different particle beam energies of different materials used in the energy degrader to change the energy of the particle beam.

Figure 30 is a block diagram showing the components of an example treatment planning system.

Figure 31 is a cross-sectional view of voxels in a patient.

Fig. 32 is a diagram showing an example spread-out Bragg peak (SOBP) and a pipe string as a part of the example irradiation target.

Figures 33 to 42 are perspective block diagrams illustrating example procedures for irradiating a target tube string by microvolume therapy.

Figures 43A and 43B are graphs showing the results of Monte Carlo simulation. Monte Carlo simulation calculates the radiation dose delivered to the treatment volume and the time it takes for each voxel in that dose calculation to reach the final dose .

Similar reference symbols in each drawing indicate similar elements.

20: pipe string

21: Target

22: Particle beam

24: path

25: pipe string

28: Arrow direction

29: Arrow direction

Claims (106)

A method of using a particle beam to treat a target, the method comprising: Guiding the particle beam along a path that at least partially passes through the target; and Controlling the energy of the particle beam when the particle beam is guided along the path, so that the particle beam treats at least the inner part of the target positioned along the path; Wherein when the particle beam is guided along the path, the particle beam will deliver a radiation dose exceeding one (1) Gorey per second to the target for a duration of less than five (5) seconds. The method of claim 1, wherein controlling the energy of the particle beam comprises: moving one or more energy absorbing plates into or out of the path of the particle beam between the target and the source of the particle beam. The method of claim 2, wherein when the particle beam is guided along the path, moving the one or more energy absorbing plates into or out of the path of the particle beam is performed. The method of claim 2, wherein moving the one or more energy absorption plates into or out of the path of the particle beam comprises: sequentially moving a plurality of energy absorption plates into the path of the particle beam. The method of claim 2, wherein moving the one or more energy absorption plates into or out of the path of the particle beam comprises: sequentially moving the plurality of energy absorption plates out of the path of the particle beam. The method of claim 2, wherein the energy absorbing plate among the one or more energy absorbing plates includes a linear motor, and the linear motor can be controlled to move the energy absorbing plate into or out of the path of the particle beam. Such as the method of claim 2, wherein each of the one or more energy absorbing plates can move in or out of the path of the particle beam within a duration of one hundred (100) milliseconds or less. The method of claim 2, wherein each of the one or more energy absorbing plates can move in or out of the path of the particle beam within a duration of ten (10) milliseconds or less. The method of claim 2, wherein the path of moving the one or more energy absorbing plates into or out of the particle beam comprises: The first plate of the one or more energy absorbing plates is controlled to move while the particle beam passes through the one or more energy absorbing plates to the target, and the first plate can be controlled to span at least part of the beam field While moving, the beam field corresponds to the plane that defines the maximum range in which the particle beam can move relative to the target. The method of claim 1, wherein the particle beam is generated by a particle accelerator configured to output a particle beam, and the particle beam is based on a current passing through a superconducting winding contained in the particle accelerator; and Wherein controlling the energy of the particle beam includes setting the current to one of a plurality of values, and each of the plurality of values corresponds to a different energy output of the particle beam from the particle accelerator. The method of claim 1, wherein when the particle beam is guided along the path, the particle beam delivers a radiation dose exceeding twenty (20) Grays per second to the target for a duration of less than five seconds. The method of claim 1, wherein when the particle beam is guided along the path, the particle beam will have a radiation dose between twenty (20) grays per second and one hundred (100) grays per second Deliver to the target for a duration of less than five seconds. The method of claim 1, wherein the particle beam comprises a Gaussian pencil beam having a size of at least two (2) millimeters σ. The method of claim 1, wherein the particle beam comprises a Gaussian pencil beam having a size between two (2) millimeters σ and twenty (20) millimeters σ. Such as the method of claim 1, wherein the path is the first path; and Wherein the method further includes: Guiding the particle beam along a second path different from the first path that at least partially passes through the target; Controlling the energy of the particle beam when the particle beam is guided along the second path, so that the particle beam treats the part of the target positioned along the second path; Wherein when the particle beam is guided along the second path, the particle beam delivers a radiation dose exceeding one (1) Goray per second to the target for a duration of less than five hundred (500) milliseconds; and During the treatment of the target, the particle beam will no longer be guided along the first path. The method of claim 1, wherein the method includes using a collimator to block at least part of the particle beam, the collimator can be configured to block the first part of the particle beam, while allowing the second part of the particle beam to reach the target. Such as the method of claim 16, wherein the collimator includes: A structure made of a material that prevents the particle beam from passing through, the structures defining an edge that moves into the path of the particle beam so that the first part of the particle beam on the first side of the edge is blocked by the structures , And make the second part of the particle beam on the second side of the edge not blocked by the structures; and A linear motor that is controlled to configure the structures to define the edge, each of the linear motors includes a movable component and a stationary component, the stationary component includes a magnetic field generator for generating a first magnetic field, the The movable component includes one or more coils for conducting current to generate a second magnetic field, and the second magnetic field interacts with the first magnetic field to move the movable component relative to the stationary component; The movable component of each linear motor is connected to the corresponding one of the structures or a part thereof, so that the corresponding structure moves along with the movement of the movable component. A method of using a particle beam to treat a target, the method comprising: Guiding the particle beam along a first path that at least partially passes through the target; Controlling the energy of the particle beam when the particle beam is guided along the first path, so that the particle beam treats the three-dimensional columnar portion of the target along the first path; and Repeatedly guiding the particle beam and controlling the energy for a plurality of different paths at least partially passing through the target, without guiding the beam more than once along the same path passing through the target; Wherein when the particle beam is guided along each path through the target, the particle beam will deliver a radiation dose exceeding one (1) Gorey per second to the target for a duration of less than five (5) seconds . The method of claim 18, wherein controlling the energy of the particle beam comprises: moving one or more energy absorbing plates into or out of the path of the particle beam between the target and the source of the particle beam. The method of claim 18, wherein the particle beam is generated by a particle accelerator configured to output a particle beam, and the particle beam is based on a current passing through a superconducting winding contained in the particle accelerator; and Wherein controlling the energy of the particle beam includes setting the current to one of a plurality of values, and each of the plurality of values corresponds to a different energy output of the particle beam from the particle accelerator. A particle therapy system, which includes: A particle accelerator, which is used to generate a particle beam; A scanning magnet for guiding the particle beam along a path at least partially passing through the target; and A control system for controlling the scanning magnet to guide the particle beam along multiple paths at least partially passing through the target and to control the energy of the particle beam so that along each of the multiple paths, The particle beam treats the three-dimensional columnar part of the target; Wherein when the particle beam is guided along each of the multiple paths, the particle beam will deliver a radiation dose exceeding one (1) Gorey per second to the target for a duration of less than five (5) seconds time. The particle therapy system of claim 21, wherein the control system is configured to control the scanning magnet so that the particle beam is guided only once along each path through the target. Such as the particle therapy system of claim 21, which further comprises: An energy absorbing structure, each of the energy absorbing structures is configured to reduce the energy of the particle beam when the particle beam passes through the energy absorbing structure to the target; and Wherein the control system is configured to control the energy of the particle beam by moving one or more of the energy absorbing structures into or out of the path of the particle beam between the target and the source of the particle beam . The particle therapy system of claim 23, wherein the energy absorbing structures include energy absorbing plates. The particle therapy system of claim 22, wherein for a path among the multiple paths, the control system is configured to move the one or more energy absorbing structures into or out of the particle beam when the particle beam is at the path The path. The particle therapy system of claim 22, wherein for a path among the multiple paths, the control system is configured to sequentially move a plurality of energy absorbing structures into the path of the particle beam. The particle therapy system of claim 22, wherein for a path among the multiple paths, the control system is configured to sequentially move the multiple energy absorbing structures out of the path of the particle beam. The particle therapy system of claim 22, wherein the energy absorbing plate in the energy absorbing structures includes a linear motor, and the linear motor can be controlled to move the energy absorbing plate into or out of the path of the particle beam. Such as the particle therapy system of claim 22, wherein for a path among the multiple paths, the control system is configured to apply the one or more energies within a duration of one hundred (100) milliseconds or less Each of the absorbing structures moves in or out of the path of the particle beam. Such as the particle therapy system of claim 22, wherein for a path among the multiple paths, the control system is configured to apply the one or more energy within a duration of fifty (50) milliseconds or less Each of the absorbing structures moves in or out of the path of the particle beam. Such as the particle therapy system of claim 22, wherein for a path among the plurality of paths, the control system is configured to move the one or more energy absorbing structures by performing operations including the following operations: The first plate among the one or more energy absorbing structures is controlled to move while the particle beam passes through the one or more energy absorbing structures and is transferred to the target. The particle therapy system of claim 21, wherein the particle accelerator includes superconducting windings and wherein the particle accelerator is configured to generate the particle beam based on currents passing through the superconducting windings; and The control system is configured to control the energy of the particle beam by setting the current to one of a plurality of values, each of the plurality of values corresponding to the particle beam output from the particle accelerator The different energy. The particle therapy system of claim 21, wherein the control system is configured to control the particle beam so as to deliver a radiation dose exceeding twenty (20) Grays per second to the target to be less than five on each path (5) Duration of seconds. Such as the particle therapy system of claim 21, wherein the control system is configured to control the particle beam so that each path will be between twenty (20) grays per second and one hundred (100) grays per second The radiation dose in between is delivered to the target for a duration of less than five (5) seconds. The particle therapy system of claim 21, wherein the particle beam comprises a Gaussian pencil beam having a size of at least two (2) millimeters σ. The particle therapy system of claim 21, wherein the particle beam comprises a Gaussian pencil beam having a size between two (2) millimeters σ and twenty (20) millimeters σ. Such as the particle therapy system of claim 21, which further comprises: The collimator can be configured to block the first part of the particle beam while allowing the second part of the particle beam to reach the target. Such as the particle therapy system of claim 37, wherein the collimator includes: A structure made of a material that prevents the particle beam from passing through, the structures defining an edge that moves into the path of the particle beam so that the first part of the particle beam on the first side of the edge is blocked by the structures , And make the second part of the particle beam on the second side of the edge not blocked by the structures; and A linear motor that can be controlled to configure the structures to define the edge, each of the linear motors includes a movable component and a stationary component, the stationary component includes a magnetic field generator for generating a first magnetic field, the The movable component includes one or more coils for conducting current to generate a second magnetic field, and the second magnetic field interacts with the first magnetic field to move the movable component relative to the stationary component; The movable component of each linear motor is connected to the corresponding one of the structures or a part thereof, so that the corresponding structure moves along with the movement of the movable component. The particle therapy system of claim 21, wherein the control system is configured to control the intensity of the particle beam along each of the multiple paths. The particle therapy system of claim 39, wherein the intensity of the particle beam is different along at least two of the multiple paths. One or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media storing instructions executable to implement a treatment planning system for a particle therapy system, the treatment planning system comprising: A predictive model that defines the characteristics of the particle therapy system and the patient to be treated by the particle therapy system. The predictive model defines the characteristics of the particle therapy system at least in part by defining the characteristics of the timing of radiation delivered by the particle therapy system ； A relative bioavailability (RBE) model that defines the characteristics of the relative bioavailability of the radiation to the tissue based on the timing of the delivery of the radiation; and A dose calculation engine for determining a dose plan for the voxel used to deliver the radiation to the patient, and the dose calculation engine is configured to determine the dose plan based on the prediction model and the RBE model. Such as one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 41, wherein the dose plan specifies the dose and dose rate of the radiation to be delivered to the voxels; and The treatment planning system further includes a sequencer for generating instructions for sequencing dose delivery so as to optimize the effective dose determined by the dose calculation engine. Such as one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 41, wherein the prediction model defines the characteristics of the particle therapy system based on the structure of the pulse of the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator. Such as one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 41, wherein the prediction model defines the characteristics of the particle therapy system based on the maximum dose per pulse of the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator. Such as one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 41, wherein the prediction model defines the characteristics of the particle therapy system based on the sweep time of the scanning magnet moving the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator. Such as one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 41, wherein the prediction model defines the characteristics of the particle therapy system based on the time taken to change the energy of the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator. Such as one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 41, wherein the predictive model defines the particle based on the time taken to move one or more energy absorbing structures to change the energy of the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator The characteristics of the therapy system. Such as one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 41, wherein the prediction model defines the characteristics of the particle therapy system based on a strategy for adjusting radiation dose. Such as one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 41, wherein the prediction model defines the particle therapy system based on the time taken to move the collimator used to collimate the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator The characteristics. Such as one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 41, wherein the predictive model defines the particle therapy based on the time it takes to configure the collimator used to collimate the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator The characteristics of the system. Such as one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 41, wherein the predictive model defines the time it takes to control the range modulator to change the Bragg peak of the particles in the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator Features of particle therapy system. For example, one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 41, wherein the dose calculation engine is configured to determine the doses specified in the dose plan to be delivered to the patient based on the RBE model Voxel time. For example, one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 41, wherein the dose calculation engine is configured to determine whether the voxel among the voxels contains targeted tissue, non-targeted tissue, or targeted tissue and Both non-targeted tissues, and the dose rate of radiation to the voxel is determined based at least in part on whether the voxel contains targeted tissues, non-targeted tissues, or both targeted and non-targeted tissues. For example, one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 53, wherein the targeted tissue includes diseased tissue and the non-targeted tissue includes healthy tissue. For example, one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 53, wherein in a situation where the voxel contains only non-targeted tissue, determining the dose rate of radiation to the voxel includes determining not to deliver the dose To this voxel. For example, one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 53, wherein in the condition that the voxel contains both the targeted tissue or the targeted tissue and the non-targeted tissue, it is determined that the radiation to the voxel The dose rate includes determining the delivery of ultra-high dose rate radiation to the voxel. For example, one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 56, wherein the ultra-high dose rate radiation includes a radiation dose exceeding one (1) Goray per second in a duration of less than five (5) seconds . Such as one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 56, wherein the ultra-high dose rate radiation includes a radiation dose exceeding one (1) Gorey per second in a duration of less than 500 ms. For example, one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 56, wherein the ultra-high dose rate radiation is comprised between 40 grays per second and 120 grays per second for a duration of less than 500 ms Radiation dose. Such as one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 41, wherein the dose plan specifies the dose and dose rate of the radiation to be delivered to the voxels; and The doses are equivalent doses judged based on the weighting factor from the RBE model. Such as one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 60, wherein the weighting factor increases the dose for a duration. For example, one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 42, wherein the sequencer is configured to sequence the delivery of the doses based on one or more of the following: by a particle accelerator The structure of the pulse of the particle beam generated, the maximum dose per pulse of the particle beam, the sweep time of the scanning magnet to move the particle beam, the time it takes to change the energy of the particle beam, and the movement of one or more energy absorbing structures to change The time spent on the energy of the particle beam, the strategy used to adjust the doses, the time spent moving the collimator used to collimate the particle beam, the time spent configuring the collimator, or Control the range modulator to change the time taken for the Bragg peak of the particles in the particle beam. Such as one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 42, wherein the sequencer is configured to sequence the delivery of the doses based on two or more of the following: The structure of the pulse of the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator, the maximum dose per pulse of the particle beam, the sweep time of the scanning magnet to move the particle beam, the time it takes to change the energy of the particle beam, move one or more energy absorption The structure is used to change the time taken for the energy of the particle beam, the strategy for adjusting the doses, the time taken to move the collimator used to collimate the particle beam, and the time taken to configure the collimator Time, or the time it takes to control the range modulator to change the Bragg peak of the particles in the particle beam. Such as one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 42, wherein the sequencer is configured to sequence the delivery of the doses based on three or more of the following: The structure of the pulse of the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator, the maximum dose per pulse of the particle beam, the sweep time of the scanning magnet to move the particle beam, the time it takes to change the energy of the particle beam, move one or more energy absorption The structure is used to change the time taken for the energy of the particle beam, the strategy for adjusting the doses, the time taken to move the collimator used to collimate the particle beam, and the time taken to configure the collimator Time, or the time it takes to control the range modulator to change the Bragg peak of the particles in the particle beam. Such as one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 42, wherein the sequencer is configured to sequence the delivery of the doses based on the following owners: pulses of particle beams generated by a particle accelerator The structure of the particle beam, the maximum dose per pulse of the particle beam, the sweep time of the scanning magnet to move the particle beam, the time it takes to change the energy of the particle beam, and the movement of one or more energy absorbing structures to change the energy of the particle beam The time it takes, the strategy used to adjust the doses, the time it takes to move the collimator used to collimate the particle beam, the time it takes to configure the collimator, or to control the range modulator to The time it takes to change the Bragg peak of the particles in the particle beam. For example, one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 42, wherein for a voxel among the voxels, the sequencer is configured to match at least partially through the tube string of the voxel The delivery of the set of doses in the set is sequenced, and each dose in the set is delivered at an ultra-high dose rate. For example, one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 42, wherein for a voxel among the voxels, the sequencer is configured to match at least partially through the tube string of the voxel Sequence the delivery of the set of doses; and Among the pipe columns, the energy of the particle beam is changed when the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator is stationary. Such as one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 67, wherein the sequence of delivery is such that after the tube string is treated, the particle beam is no longer guided to treat the tube string. One or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media that store instructions executable to implement a treatment planning system for a particle therapy system, the treatment planning system comprising: A predictive model that defines the characteristics of the particle therapy system and the patient to be treated by the particle therapy system; and A dose calculation engine for determining a dose plan for voxels used to deliver radiation to a patient, the dose calculation engine being configured to determine the dose plan based on the prediction model. One or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 69, wherein the dose plan specifies the dose and dose rate of the radiation to be delivered to the voxels; and The treatment planning system further includes a sequencer for generating instructions for sequencing the delivery of doses at a rate determined by the dose calculation engine. A method that includes Storing first information in a computer memory, the first information defining the characteristics of the particle therapy system and the patient to be treated by the particle therapy system; Storing second information in the computer memory, the second information defining the characteristics of the relative bioavailability of radiation to the tissue; and One or more processing devices determine a dose plan for the voxel for delivering the radiation to the patient, and the dose plan is determined based on the first information and the second information. The method of claim 71, wherein the dose plan specifies the dose and dose rate of the radiation to be delivered to the voxels; and Wherein the method includes generating instructions for sequencing the delivery of doses at the rate specified in the dosage regimen. The method of claim 71, wherein the first information defines the characteristics of the particle therapy system based on the structure of the pulse of the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator. The method of claim 71, wherein the first information defines the characteristics of the particle therapy system based on the maximum dose per pulse of the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator. The method of claim 71, wherein the first information defines the characteristics of the particle therapy system based on the sweep time of the scanning magnet moving the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator. The method of claim 71, wherein the first information defines the characteristics of the particle therapy system based on the time taken to change the energy of the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator. The method of claim 71, wherein the first information defines the characteristics of the particle therapy system based on the time taken to move one or more energy absorbing structures to change the energy of the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator. The method of claim 71, wherein the first information defines the characteristics of the particle therapy system based on a strategy for adjusting the doses. The method of claim 71, wherein the first information defines the characteristic of the particle therapy system based on the time taken to move the collimator used to collimate the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator. The method of claim 71, wherein the first information defines the characteristics of the particle therapy system based on the time taken to configure the collimator used to collimate the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator. The method of claim 71, wherein the first information defines the characteristic of the particle therapy system based on the time it takes to control the range modulator to change the Bragg peak of the particles in the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator. The method of claim 71, wherein determining the dosage schedule comprises: determining, based on the second information, a time when the dose specified in the dosage schedule is to be delivered to the voxels of the patient. Such as the method of claim 71, wherein determining that the dosage regimen includes: Determine whether the voxel contains targeted tissue, non-targeted tissue, or both targeted tissue and non-targeted tissue, and is based at least in part on whether the voxel contains targeted tissue, non-targeted tissue, or targeted tissue Both tissues and non-targeted tissues determine the dose rate of radiation to the voxel. The method of claim 83, wherein the targeted tissue includes diseased tissue and the non-targeted tissue includes healthy tissue. The method of claim 83, wherein in a situation where the voxel contains only non-targeted tissue, determining the dose rate of radiation to the voxel comprises: determining not to deliver a dose to the voxel. Such as the method of claim 83, wherein in the condition that the voxel contains both targeted tissues or targeted tissues and non-targeted tissues, determining the dose rate of radiation to the voxel includes: determining that the dose rate will be ultra-high Radiation is delivered to this voxel. The method of claim 86, wherein the ultra-high dose rate radiation comprises a radiation dose exceeding one (1) Gray per second in a duration of less than five (5) seconds. The method of claim 86, wherein the ultra-high dose rate radiation comprises a radiation dose exceeding one (1) Gorey per second for a duration of less than 500 ms. The method of claim 86, wherein the ultra-high-dose rate radiation includes a radiation dose between 40 Gy per second and 120 Gy per second in a duration of less than 500 ms. The method of claim 71, wherein the dose plan specifies the dose and dose rate of the radiation to be delivered to the voxels; and The doses are equivalent doses determined based on the weighting factor from the second information. The method of claim 90, wherein the weighting factor increases the dose for a duration. The method of claim 72, wherein the sequencing of dose delivery is based on one or more of the following: the structure of the pulses of the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator, the maximum dose per pulse of the particle beam, and the scanning magnet The sweep time of moving the particle beam, the time taken to change the energy of the particle beam, the time taken to move one or more energy absorbing structures to change the energy of the particle beam, the strategy for adjusting the doses, The time it takes to move the collimator used to collimate the particle beam, the time it takes to configure the collimator, or the time it takes to control the range modulator to change the Bragg peak of the particles in the particle beam . The method of claim 72, wherein the sequencing of the dose delivery is based on two or more of the following: the structure of the pulse of the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator, the maximum dose per pulse of the particle beam , The scanning magnet moves the sweep time of the particle beam, the time it takes to change the energy of the particle beam, the time it takes to move one or more energy absorbing structures to change the energy of the particle beam, and to adjust the doses The strategy, the time it takes to move the collimator used to collimate the particle beam, the time it takes to configure the collimator, or to control the range modulator to change the Bragg peak of the particles in the particle beam time spent. The method of claim 72, wherein the sequencing of the dose delivery is based on three or more of the following: the structure of the pulse of the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator, the maximum dose per pulse of the particle beam , The scanning magnet moves the sweep time of the particle beam, the time it takes to change the energy of the particle beam, the time it takes to move one or more energy absorbing structures to change the energy of the particle beam, and to adjust the doses The strategy, the time it takes to move the collimator used to collimate the particle beam, the time it takes to configure the collimator, or to control the range modulator to change the Bragg peak of the particles in the particle beam time spent. Such as the method of claim 72, wherein the sequencing of the dose delivery is based on the following owners: the structure of the pulses of the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator, the maximum dose per pulse of the particle beam, and the scanning of the particle beam by the scanning magnet Sweep time, time taken to change the energy of the particle beam, time taken to move one or more energy absorbing structures to change the energy of the particle beam, strategies for adjusting the doses, movement to make the particles The time it takes to collimate the beam, the time it takes to configure the collimator, or the time it takes to control the range modulator to change the Bragg peak of the particles in the particle beam. The method of claim 72, wherein for the voxels among the voxels, sequencing the delivery of doses includes sequencing the delivery of the sets of doses at least partially passing through the tube string of the voxels, Each dose in this set is delivered at an ultra-high dose rate. The method of claim 72, wherein for the voxels among the voxels, sequencing the delivery of doses includes sequencing the delivery of the sets of doses at least partially through the tubing of the voxels; And Among the pipe columns, the energy of the particle beam is changed when the particle beam generated by the particle accelerator is at rest. The method of claim 97, wherein the sequence of delivery is such that after the tube string is treated, the particle beam is no longer guided to treat the tube string. A method that includes: Storing first information in a computer memory, the first information defining the characteristics of the particle therapy system and the patient to be treated by the particle therapy system; and One or more processing devices determine a dose plan of the voxel for delivering radiation to the patient, and the dose plan is determined based on the first information. The method of claim 99, wherein the dose plan specifies the dose and dose rate of the radiation to be delivered to the voxels; and Wherein the method further comprises generating instructions for sequencing the delivery of doses at the rate specified in the dosage regimen. A system that includes: Particle accelerators, which are used to generate radiation for delivery to patients; A scanning system for controlling the delivery of the radiation to the patient; A treatment planning system for generating a treatment plan that specifies how to deliver the radiation to the voxel of the patient; and A control system for controlling the particle accelerator and the scanning system according to the treatment plan, so as to deliver the radiation to the voxels of the patient; The treatment plan system is programmed to generate the treatment plan by executing the method as in claim 99. Such as the system of claim 101, wherein the treatment planning system includes a first computing system, the control system includes a second computing system, and the first computing system is different from the second computing system. Such as the system of claim 101, wherein the treatment planning system and the control system are implemented on the same computing system. The method of claim 1, wherein guidance and control are performed for each of the multiple microvolumes of the target. The method of claim 18, wherein guidance and control are performed for each of the multiple microvolumes of the target. The particle therapy system of claim 21, wherein the control system is configured to treat the micro-volume of the target by controlling the scanning magnet to guide the particle beam along a plurality of paths at least partially passing through the target, And the energy of the particle beam is controlled so that along each of the multiple paths, the particle beam treats the three-dimensional columnar portion of the target.

Images